Vicki
Gambale

About

Victoria Gambale is an Extension Specialist for UF/IFAS. She is passionate about and dedicated to protecting and restoring the marine environment. Victoria has worked along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts of the U.S. with a diverse variety of personalities to accomplish environmental advancement, whether it’s through installation of pollution prevention infrastructure, public outreach programs, hands on habitat restoration, or applied research. Victoria has over a decade of professional experience developing, implementing, and evaluating successful public engagement programs that reduce pollution and improve water quality. She believes that great science is extremely important for the future, but just as important is proper communication of that science to decision makers, policy makers, the public, stakeholders, and funders.

Victoria holds a M.S. in Fisheries Science from Louisiana State University and a B.S. in Marine Biology from Roger Williams University.

Projects, Research & Specializations

Florida has over 1,350 miles of coastline and the highest level of recreational boating in the nation. Increased outdoor activity means increased pollution which can negatively impact water quality and human health. Given the large number of boats in the state, even a small amount of pollution from a fraction of the boats can be harmful.

Victoria’s efforts are currently focused on ensuring the recreational boating community has the tools, knowledge, and resources needed to properly dispose of boat sewage.

One of Victoria’s primary projects is to manage Florida’s data in Pumpout Nav, a free iOS and Android app.  This app helps boaters locate over 280 publicly available sewage pumpouts, portable toilet dump stations, and mobile pumpout vessels. Victoria works to ensure the information in the app is accurate and develop new and engaging app features and capabilities.

Based on research results from a comprehensive Clean Vessel Act (CVA) Resource and Needs Assessment (RNA), Victoria will develop data driven educational resources and projects. CVA RNA data will determine where in the state more sewage disposal resources are most needed. The results of this research will help direct where additional outreach about Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Clean Vessel Act Grant program, which offers grants to install pumpout and dump stations, is most need.  As part of the CVA RNA a boater survey will help to determine the boating community’s current level of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding sewage waste management. The results of the boater survey will be used to determine the subject matter for educational programming.

*The CVA Education Coordinator position is funded through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.