Due to a last-minute engagement, Roberta Swann, Director of Mobile Bay National Estuary Program (MBNEP) will be unable to join us this weekend. However, we are pleased to announce that Watershed Protection Coordinator Tom Herder will be speaking in her place! Now in his 11th year at MBNEP, Tom is a Marine veteran with Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Marine Biology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Having completed coursework towards a PhD in Zoology from the University of Florida, he has a strong science background, particularly in estuarine biology. He went to work for the NEP after leaving a twenty-year career as a competitive swim coach. He and his wife, Rhoda Vanderhart, a nurse at Mobile Infirmary, live in a midtown Mobile with two Australian Shepherds, three parrots, and a tank of community fish.  Herder’s passion is surfing, which he’s been learning for 46 years.