As the country adapts to changes necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, coastal and Great Lakes communities, too, are rethinking how to resume what were once normal activities. Sea Grant programs are leading efforts to provide relief to the communities they serve. Read about a few of the initiatives Sea Grant created or enhanced in recent months.
In a new report published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), California Sea Grant and Alaska Sea Grant contributed a case study to highlight the approach Sea Grant extension personnel take in working with fishing communities and the seafood direct marketing information products they have created since the mid 1990s.
Sea Grant volunteers in three states track our changing coasts
In a changing climate, sea-level rise, storm surge and erosion all threaten our coasts’ sandy beaches. Teams of volunteer citizen scientists from New Hampshire, Maine and California Sea Grant programs are helping researchers keep a finger on the pulse of the shifting sands.
Marine debris is a pervasive global problem that touches every corner of our ocean and Great Lakes. Sea Grant, in collaboration with the NOAA Marine Debris Program, recently awarded $350,000 to eight Sea Grant programs for projects that will research, prevent and remove marine debris in US waters.
In a study led by California Sea Grant Extension Specialist Theresa Talley, researchers found that nearly a quarter of fish sampled from a creek that flows into San Diego Bay contain microplastics. This work, which was recently published in the journal PLOS ONE, examined plastics in coastal sediments and three species of fish.