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Knauss Fellowship alumni use the experiences they gain during the fellowship to pursue a variety of careers, from NOAA Chief of Staff to professors or U.S. Senate committee staff. But as a musician in the successful band Animal Collective, 2004 fellow Brian Weitz may have the most out-of-the-box “where are they now” story.
Large-scale offshore aquaculture may have much less environmental impact from nutrient pollution than people suspect, according to a recent study funded by Florida Sea Grant and NOAA Fisheries.
Offshore aquaculture is poised to grow in the coming years to help offset the U.S. seafood trade deficit, but concerns have been raised about the potential for fish waste to pollute surrounding waters by introducing unnaturally high nutrient levels. In this new study, researchers found little evidence of nutrient pollution from a commercial cobia aquaculture farm located offshore the Republic of Panama.
The Sea Grant Oil Spill Science Outreach Program and the Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a series of workshops around the country – in Alabama, Alaska, California, Louisiana, and Virginia – designed to bring regional priorities to the fore in community oil spill preparation and resiliency planning. Five regional workshop reports and one summary report are now available online.
Catalina Martinez, a 2002 Knauss Fellow through Rhode Island Sea Grant, was one of six NOAA experts recognized at the 2019 annual Women of Color in STEM conference. Martinez explains how the Knauss Fellowship paved the way for her 18-year career at NOAA.
Sea Grant is pleased to announce the designation of the National Sea Grant Law Center (Law Center) as a “coherent area program.” This designation elevates the Law Center from a temporary Sea Grant project to a more permanent component of the National Sea Grant College Program.
Some 1700 people are expected to descend upon Mobile, Alabama on November 3rd-7th for the 25th Biennial Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) Conference. In addition to the Sea Grant scholarship that will be on display through presentations and posters, here is a quick guide to ways in which the National Sea Grant College Program will be present and advancing the conference theme, Responsive | Relevant | Ready.
Three awards totaling $2 million in federal funding were recently awarded through the 2019 Sea Grant Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Research Initiative, a competitive research process.
New research and innovative collaborative efforts aim to advance domestic aquaculture. Forty two new projects funded by Sea Grant in three programs will work to increase understanding and transfer knowledge to end users for different topics and geographies across the U.S.
Sea Grant is funding new research aimed at understanding physical and chemical changes affecting American lobster (Homarus americanus) in the Gulf of Maine as well as a regional lobster extension program.
Revitalization breaks through in this photo essay from National Geographic photographer Peter Essick, in collaboration with the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network, demonstrating the renewed majesty of the Great Lakes.
Take a visual tour of the restoration and resurgence of Great Lakes tributaries that were designated as Areas of Concern under the 1987 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. These tributaries were pinpointed due to significant pollution and habitat problems, but with funding from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Areas of Concern are getting cleaned up and habitat is being restored.
An ecological investment is bringing life back to the aquatic environment. Tourism, recreation, and development are returning to the basin’s rivers, harbors, and lakes.
Sea Grant and the National Marine Fisheries Service (Fisheries) are pleased to announce the 2019 Fisheries-Sea Grant Joint Fellowship recipients. Eight population and ecosystem dynamics fellowships were awarded through a competitive selection process. The Fisheries-Sea Grant Joint Fellowship program supports students pursuing doctoral degrees in population and ecosystem dynamics as well as marine resources economics. The program is a focused workforce development effort to train highly qualified professionals in areas of critical need for NOAA’s science-based approach to fisheries management.
By Christina Dierkes.
Ohio Sea Grant educators provide a wide range of professional learning experiences for teachers, from developing curriculum and teaching Stone Lab workshops to accompanying teachers from across the Great Lakes region in shipboard science workshops aboard the U.S. EPA’s Lake Guardian research vessel. Educators Lyndsey Manzo and Angela Greene have found new ways to help educators take what they learn back to the classroom, and that’s really the end goal of Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Lab’s professional learning efforts. Every time just a few people pick up those lessons and run with them, those efforts reach so many more students than concentrated work by just Sea Grant staff ever could.
Pennsylvania Sea Grant, in partnership with the Erie Times News, produces a weekly environmental newspaper page, as part of the national program Newspapers in Education. Stories about local, regional, and global environmental issues, research and educational programs reach students in classrooms throughout the Erie, PA school district each Tuesday during the school year.
The 2020 finalists for the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship program will become the 41th class of one of the most prestigious marine policy fellowships in the U.S. The 69 finalists represent 28 of the 34 Sea Grant programs. Since 1979, Sea Grant has provided one-year Knauss fellowships to early career professionals to work in federal government offices in Washington, D.C. to over 1,300 early professionals.
The Lake Erie Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Seasonal Forecast, produced by NOAA and released with Ohio Sea Grant, gives coastal managers, lake users, and drinking water facility operators a general sense of the potential severity of the upcoming bloom season. NOAA is forecasting a large bloom for 2019, with a severity index greater than 7. The index is based on the bloom’s biomass – the amount of harmful or toxic algae – over a sustained period. Last year’s bloom had a severity of 3.6 and the 2017 bloom had a severity of 8.
NOAA recently awarded New Jersey Sea Grant funding to plan and host an event focused on workforce development for the field of fisheries population and ecosystem dynamics. The program is a partnership effort supported by Sea Grant, NOAA’s Office of Education and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) aimed at engaging undergraduate students in the specialized field of population and ecosystem dynamics, which combines science with mathematics for science-based management of U.S. fisheries.
During Capitol Hill Ocean Week (CHOW) 2019, Sea Grant and the Women’s Aquatic Network collaborated to host a brown bag lunch session on Increasing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Coastal, Marine and Ocean Science Workforce. Four panelists, including those from government and non-government sectors, offered inspiring, specific and candid remarks during the packed session, which had standing room only.
The sun is shining and the water is calm: what better way to spend a warm summer day than dropping anchor, kicking back and casting a line? Every year, tens of millions of people flock to U.S. coasts to enjoy recreational fishing and boating. Sea Grant supports the recreational fishing and boating enthusiasts and industries by providing resources that teach people learn how to fish and boat, help boaters and anglers determine when and where to go on the water, how to get the most out of their excursions while staying safe, and how to protect the environment so future generations can enjoy the same experiences.
In Puget Sound, The Nature Conservancy in Washington wants to learn more about shellfish aquaculture structures and how they impact the marine environment for specific organisms or life stages. They partner with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Washington Sea Grant, as well as the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and shellfish farms, to study which fish and crab species use shellfish aquaculture habitats.
Since the 1960s, surfers from the United States have been going to Rincón, Puerto Rico to catch the best waves of the winter season. The trend has been so consistent that the town has slowly built its economy along its approximate eight miles of beautiful coastline, now famous with tourists. Yet, as the surfing community continues to swell, the beaches get crowded, and the same waves that keep the local economy afloat also put tourists and locals at risk of losing their lives.
A new study from North Carolina State University shows that educating children about climate change affects parents as well. A pre- and post-survey showed that parents of children who had climate change curriculum were more concerned about climate .
How do people prepare for hurricanes before the season begins? When a hurricane is looming, how do people receive warning, decide to take action, and prepare for the storm? As part of the National Weather Service’s Hurricane Preparedness Week, Sea Grant programs have been highlighting their work that aims to answer these questions. Resources developed by Sea Grant and partners can help communities and individuals prepare for storms well before hurricane season even approaches as well as when a storm is approaching.
Sea Grant is announcing a Federal Funding Opportunity focused on research of HMS species, including the interactions between yellow-fin tuna and oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, to address critical gaps in knowledge about HMS in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean regions. Letters of intent are due May 15, 2019, and full proposals are due June 19, 2019.
Scientist Carrie Garrison-Laney, a coastal hazards specialist for Washington Sea Grant and liason to the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, pieces together stories of past tsunamis in the Pacific Northwest. Understanding the destruction caused by past tsunamis can prepare vulnerable coastal communities for future events.
A Sea Grant team of legal and aquaculture experts has released a report detailing eight case studies that identify challenges to the shellfish aquaculture industry in the United States. The project was funded through Sea Grant’s 2017 national investment in aquaculture.
NMFS-Sea Grant Population and Ecosystem Dynamics Fellow Chris Free and colleagues published a study in the March 2019 edition of Science that “used historical ocean temperature and fisheries data to determine how ocean warming affects the amount of fish that can be harvested sustainably from wild-populations.” Free’s dissertation adviser, Olaf Jensen, says that the NMFS-Sea Grant Fellowship was instrumental in allowing Free to pursue this groundbreaking work. “This fellowship gave him the freedom to really devote himself to this research rather than [teaching] or applying for small grants,” said Jensen.
Sea Grant professionals from across the country will attend the triennial aquaculture conference in March 2019. The conference is a joint meeting of the World Aquaculture Society, National Shellfisheries Association, Fish Culture Section of the American Fisheries Society, and the National Aquaculture Association.
Sea Grant’s 2019 national aquaculture program includes three federal funding opportunities to advance priority project types.
A Wisconsin Sea Grant and National Weather Service collaborative project seeks to answer the question: Why are the economically disadvantaged more likely to be negatively affected by severe weather? It adds to the Weather Ready Nation initiative.
A new online aquaculture siting tool called MA-ShellfAST simplifies the process of selecting and establishing a shellfish farm for Massachusetts-based farmers using funding from the NOAA Sea Grant 2016 Aquaculture Extension and Technology Transfer program.
Shauna Oh, a leader in California’s marine science community, has been named as the new director of California Sea Grant. She will join the program on February 20th. The appointment follows a nationwide search by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, which hosts the program.
New year, same great Sea Grant work! Here’s a look back at some of Sea Grant highlights you may have missed from January.
From a new designation of a Sea Grant program, to policy-influencing reports, the Sea Grant network kept busy this year!
With so much awesome work happening within Sea Grant, it can be hard to keep up! Here’s a look back at some of Sea Grant highlights you may have missed from this month.
In this installment of our continuing #SeafoodMonth festivities, we look at how Sea Grant investments in research have advanced the domestic aquaculture industry.
NOAA Sea Grant announces the award of $11 million in grants for 22 projects to further advance the development of a sustainable marine and coastal aquaculture industry in the U.S.
Sea Grant Celebrates Aquaculture Week October is Seafood Month, and Sea Grant is celebrating all month long by telling some of the inspiring (and tasty!)
During the second week of National Seafood Month, Sea Grant looks at efforts across the country to keep seafood, and the individuals who harvest it, safe.
Washington’s Bellingham SeaFeast (not “fest”, as I learned) was truly a feast of the ocean’s bounty.
All month Sea Grant is celebrating with inspiring and tasty stories from around the country focused on sustainable fisheries and aquaculture.
Sea Grant programs in the Great Lakes and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are teaming up to raise awareness about cost-sharing programs available through the Great Lakes Legacy Act for sediment cleanup efforts. A new video and social media campaign explain.
Hawai’i Sea Grant’s Homeowner’s Handbook to Prepare for Natural Hazards has been helping homeowners on the islands and beyond prepare for disasters since 2007.
With hazardous weather approaching the southeastern US, Sea Grant programs throughout the region are providing contacts and resources to help their local communities stay safe.
The National Marine Fisheries Service-Sea Grant Joint Fellowship program supports students pursuing doctoral degrees in population and ecosystem dynamics as well as marine resource economics. The program is a focused workforce development effort to train highly qualified professionals in areas of critical need for NOAA’s science-based approach to fisheries management.
Oregon Sea Grant and NOAA programs partner to offer professional development opportunities for undergraduate students
Recent work from Washington and Hawai’i Sea Grant programs highlights Sea Grant’s role in preparing coastal communities across the country for rising sea levels.
Since 1979, the National Sea Grant College Program has provided one-year fellowships working in federal government offices in Washington, D.C. to over 1,200 early-career professionals. The 2019 finalists will become the 40th class of the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship program.
Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory will host a media briefing to announce NOAA’s 2018 Harmful Algal Bloom forecast for Lake Erie on Thursday, July 12.
Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin Sea Grant programs along with NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management and many tribal and local partners are working together to increase community awareness about the cultural and ecological importance of native wild rice.
Even small amounts of running water—less than a gallon per second—could mean the difference between life or death for juvenile coho salmon in coastal California streams, according to a new study published in the journal Transactions of the American Fisheries Society.
Acting NOAA Administrator RDML Timothy Gallaudet visited Maryland Sea Grant and IMET in May 2018 for a discussion focused on aquaculture research and how the partners are advancing diversity in the marine sciences.
Sea Grant works with coastal communities across the U.S., Puerto Rico and Guam to improve community resilience to coastal storms. Sea Grant engages in vulnerability assessments, resilience planning and social science initiatives to learn from previous storms and better prepare for future storms.
Lake Champlain Sea Grant earned the honor as an Institutional Program for demonstrating excellence in research, education and public service dedicated to the environmentally responsible management and development in the Nation’s marine, coastal and Great Lakes resources. As a Sea Grant Institute, Lake Champlain Sea Grant is eligible for additional federal funding and is expected to increase the research portfolio of the program.
With an extensive background in a wide range of environmental, scientific and marine policy issues, Penny Dalton has served as Washington Sea Grant’s director since 2005.
Hurricane Irma displaced more than 150,000 spiny lobster traps in the Florida Keys last year, sometimes miles away from their original locations. But a novel eyes-in-the-sky solution developed with support from Florida Sea Grant has saved the industry nearly $4 million.
When the national Sea Grant office asks the network of 33 programs for examples of outstanding community outreach and collaboration, one name is often suggested: North Carolina Sea Grant’s Jack Thigpen.
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant-funded research finds plastic microfibers in the water, sediment and fish of three major rivers that flow into Lake Michigan.
The Mid-Atlantic Sea Grant Programs (MASGP), in partnership with the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program (OAP), are pleased to announce the availability of Ocean Acidification (OA) Graduate Research Fellowships for the two-year period covering the 2018 and 2019 academic years.
Maryland Sea Grant is working to increase environmental literacy by partnering with teachers to bring aquaculture into the classroom.
USC Sea Grant has worked with communities in southern California for over six years on climate adaptation planning. They analyzed their efforts and published the analysis in the Cities and the Environment Journal.
Originally posted by Connecticut Sea Grant About 25 federal and state regulators met with current and aspiring kelp farmers at UConn’s Avery Point campus in
Knowledge, Spread Wisely: Sea Grant Evaluation Shows National Weather Service Forecast is Assisting Farmers in Protecting Wisconsin Waters
“There’s a worm on my oyster!” Louisiana Sea Grant explains why this happens and why it’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Atlantic menhaden have been called the most important fish in the sea, with good reason.
Sea Grant programs in the Gulf of Mexico and Georgia help communities better understand how to create a Program for Public Information (PPI) and earn outreach points under the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System (CRS). Points earned through the CRS help improve a community’s rating and can lead to discounted flood insurance premiums.
A team of university and government scientists, selected by an expert review panel convened by the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, will conduct an independent study to estimate the number of red snapper in the U.S. waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
University of Georgia Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant is working with researchers from the National Center for Atmospheric Research to better understand how to communicate hurricane risks so that the public will take necessary precautions before a storm.
New Minnesota Sea Grant study suggests that using water clarity as an indicator of water quality may not necessarily work in all regions.
To fill a knowledge gap about the shallow seafloor right off Rhode Island’s coast, Rhode Island Sea Grant invested in the development of BayMap, a collection of marine habitat maps for Narragansett Bay and surrounding coastal ponds for use by resource managers and scientists.
“By training the next generation of fishers through a hands-on mentorship program, scientists and fishers hope to feed the world for many lifetimes.”
NOAA Sea Grant announces the award of $9.3 million in grants for 32 projects to advance the development of a sustainable marine and coastal aquaculture
In a collaborative effort, North Carolina Sea Grant developed a series of graphics to help the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries present fisheries statistics to various audiences.
Wisconsin Sea Grant funded a two-year aquaculture research project designed to compare the production of walleye, a native Wisconsin fish, and saugeye, a natural hybrid of walleye and sauger, in a recirculating aquaculture system and a closed aquaponics system.
The day started with a typical greeting one would expect when meeting someone for the first time. As we walked towards Paul’s aging truck, which I could only describe as “having lots of character,” I knew I was about to embark on an entertaining adventure.
Oregon Sea Grant supported researchers place bags of oysters on different amounts of empty shells to see if the shells help the oysters grow better in acidified waters.
A survey funded by Oregon Sea Grant found that more than 80 percent of respondents from the west coast shellfish industry agree that ocean acidification is having negative consequences on production.
Louisiana Sea Grant extension agent Thu Bui translates Sea Grant resources for Vietnamese fishermen in Louisiana.
Sea Grant supports the advancement of sustainable aquaculture development through research, extension and education.
Sea Grant support enhances extension and technology transfer to advance aquaculture production in New Hampshire and Maine.
Sea Grant together with the National Marine Fisheries Service are pleased to announce the 2017 NMFS-Sea Grant Joint Fellowship recipients. Six population and ecosystem dynamics
Sea Grant supported research, education and workforce development to help make it possible
Florida Sea Grant compiled seafood recipes from around the Sea Grant network to celebrate 50 years of supporting Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture.
USC Sea Grant’s program has a lasting impact on students, enabling them to learn about science and themselves.
In 2016, Puerto Rico Sea Grant staff trained about 205 teachers and reached 38,882 students through improved environmental curriculum.
With a greater ecological understanding, Washington Sea Grant works to increase understanding of social perspectives of geoduck clam aquaculture.
Sea Grant programs are pushing to make invasive green crabs attractive as a menu item.
The award winning product aims to create a new market for the tons of fish skin that goes to waste in processing.
Sixty one finalists have been selected for the 2018 John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship, a program sponsored and managed by the National Sea Grant College Program.
Wisconsin Sea Grant researcher quantifies the value of Lake Michigan sports fisheries
Georgia Sea Grant funded the development and testing of a turtle excluder device (TED) to help jellyfish trawl fishermen operate more efficiently.
The Aua transect on Tutuila island in the remote island territory of American Samoa recently celebrated its 100th anniversary, and scientists from throughout the region traveled to the island to celebrate and conduct the 100th year transect survey.
Alaska Sea Grant is getting the word out about a technique that could enhance farmed oyster and kelp productivity.
Researchers funded by N.H. Sea Grant describe the effects of rising groundwater levels from sea level rise on N.H.’s coastal roads.
A group of fifth-grade students from Alpena, Michigan created a movie to help everyone understand why marine debris is a problem and to offer ideas about how they can contribute toward solutions.
The highest mean water levels ever recorded in Hawai'i occurred in April 2017. Scientists with the University of Hawaii and Sea Grant predict there is more to come and provide early notice to help communities prepare.
A new paper in the journal Nature by researchers at Duke University provides strong evidence that catch share management slows the race to fish in U.S. fisheries on average. Some counterexamples in multispecies settings motivate ongoing work.
Removal of polluted sediment from lake and river bottoms can be costly and time consuming. Ohio Sea Grant researchers are developing a new method using ultrasound and chemical agents, potentially making pollutant clean up faster and less costly.
West Coast crabbers and faculty with Oregon State University and Sea Grant programs in Oregon and Washington have been exploring ways to reduce injuries at sea.
A strong partnership between Louisiana and Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant programs fosters the exchange of information and problem solving for successful oyster larvae production; supports growing off-bottom aquaculture industry in the northern Gulf of Mexico.