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We're launching this newsletter as part of our New Jersey Oceans and Human Health Initiative (NJ-OHHI) to explore big questions and ideas about our relationship for oceans and human health that affects a broad and growing audience.
With funding from BIO-1 WIRED, we will be offering a series of programs throughout the state, and working with the New Jersey Biotechnology Education Consortium to support speaker and curriculum development.
By addressing aquaculture, drugs from the sea, the interaction of many ecological and human systems, we are inviting discussion from scientists, business people, and educators.
Let us know how we can assist and engage you in the future. Feel free to send a note to amacdona@monmouth.edu or pick up the phone (732-263-5392).
Anchors away!
Tony MacDonald, Director of Urban Coast Institute
Tony MacDonald is the Director of the Urban Coast Institute (UCI), at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey. Mr. MacDonald was previously the Executive Director of the Coastal States Organization (CSO). Special Counsel and Director of Environmental Affairs at the American Association of Port Authorities. Tony has also practiced law working on environmental and legislative issues, and served as the Washington, DC environmental legislative representative for the Mayor of the City of New York. |
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NJ-OHHI Thought Leader Roundtable
By Joanne Gere, BioScience Collaborative
On December 14, 2009, Monmouth University's Urban Coast Institute hosted a NJ-OHHI Thought Leader Roundtable discussion at the EDA Commercialization Center in North Brunswick. The UCI Director Tony MacDonald chaired the discussions and opened the session with a brief review of oceans and human health issues.
The objective of the Roundtable was to begin a discussion about positioning New Jersey to play a vital role in related research and technology development, as well as educating, training and workforce development. Key themes addressed included pharmaceuticals, drug discovery and marine biotechnology, safe and healthy seafood, water quality, and technologies for detection and clean up of the ocean environment
Ms. Juli Trtanj, Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Ocean and Human Health Initiative provided an overview of OHHI activities at the federal, regional and state level. With support from NOAA and the National Academy of Science, regional research centers have been established, research grants and student scholarships have been funded (http://www.eol.ucar.edu/projects/ohhi). Ms. Trtanj provided examples of research relating to shellfish toxin tracking, identification of 'sentinel' species that provide insight into disease vectors and other analytical work to underscore progress being made across the country.
Other speakers included:
- Dr. Guy Carter, formerly of Wyeth/Pfizer, Inc., who shared the history, challenge, and unique promise of university - industry marine research partnerships in development of nature-derived health products.
- Tom Fote, Legislative Director of the Jersey Coast Anglers Association described and provided a copy of his Congressional testimony raising alarm about the emerging threat of nontraditional pollutants and chemicals to ocean water quality and productivity of fisheries.
- Representatives from the NJ Department of Environmental Protection addressed the state's extensive programs to assure healthy seafood, protect ocean water quality and manage coastal resources to prevent degradation.
- Steve Dillingham, a principal at Strategro, Inc., spoke on commercialization and approaches to cluster development that should be considered to encourage further developing New Jersey's oceans and human health capacity and workforce development.
The session brought together experts in clean water, aquaculture, natural products from the sea, commercialization and cluster development. Participants came from as far as Washington DC and included a representative of Congressman Rush Holt's office. Three key themes emerged, crossing various silos and reflecting on the complexity of the landscape and opportunities for collaboration:
§ Natural Products/Drugs from the Sea - With the contraction in pharmaceutical research efforts around the region, a number of natural products repositories are at risk. These are valuable resources, built up over the years to provide fresh discoveries and platforms for promising new therapies. An opportunity may exist to pull these together into one location, develop protocols for sharing data across the research community, create a virtual repository of knowledge, or some other solution.
§ Nonpoint Pollution/Clean Water/Epidemiology - Data is currently being collected from multiple sources, through sensors and other technologies in the water, on land, and in the air. By working to bring varied data sources into a common analytical environment, these valuable stores of knowledge can be leveraged to impact decisions on the ground, such as, beach closings and other impacts on human health. Of particular interest, is the tracking of ecological impacts on a population-wide, highly detailed scale.
§ Cluster Development/Enhancing Aquaculture, Research, and Hospitality Industries - New Jersey is home to unique and valuable expertise, natural resources, and a vibrant aquaculture industry. By aggregating existing information and collecting additional in-depth data from a wide range of stakeholders, there is a significant opportunity to stimulate industry growth and jobs that can help keep the state's primary resource, its people, engaged. It can also establish a branded identity for the New Jersey marine community that crosses multiple aspects of the industry and is recognized internationally to signify quality products, research, destinations and stewardship.
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Aquaculture Can Provide Healthy Seafood and
Preserve
Healthy Oceans
By Karen A. Choy, NJ-OHHI
Americans are incorporating more fish into their daily diet. The demand for quality seafood and fish is on a steady rise, yet the natural supply of fish is finite and many species are facing decline. Globally, nearly half the fish consumed by humans is already produced by fish farms. Aquaculture, if done right, can provide a new source of healthy seafood for consumers that will supplement the marine and fresh water species supply.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates that domestic aquaculture production of all species could increase from about 0.5 million tons annually to 1.5 million tons per year by 2025, including 760,000 tons from finfish aquaculture, 47,000 tons from crustacean production, and 245,000 tons from mollusk production.
Here are 4 of the reasons to consider purchasing farm-raised fish:
· Health Benefits - The fish are low in mercury levels, saturated fats, cholesterol, sodium and calories, high in protein, vitamins and minerals, and much more.
· Availability - To address the seasonal variability and declining numbers in some wild fish, farmed fish can be produced at a steady rate available for consumers needs throughout the year, and supplement wild sources.
· Lower Cost/High Quantity and Size- The increased productivity enables fish farms to deliver uniform-sized fillets year round at a lower cost causing the market to expand.
· Produces Jobs -- Purchasing farmed products helps to make our country less dependent on other nations for our food supply and can increasing aquaculture related jobs.
However, it is not enough that the fish are healthy. It is also important to assure that they are harvested sustainably so that they leave the coasts and ocean healthy. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have established a Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, which contain principles and provisions in support of sustainable aquaculture development.
Fish farmers are encouraged to:
· Minimize the use of drugs such as antibiotics, anti-parasite and vaccinations with the fish in order to keep the fish healthy.
· Grow many species of fish including "filter feeding" fish, such as, mussels which will aid in removing microorganisms and nutrients resulting in improved water quality.
· Substitute sustainable feed ingredients.
· Use closed re-circulating aquaculture systems where the water is recycled continuously and treated mechanically to remove toxins.
· Use native species and assure proper siting and management to prevent escape of nonnatives.
Consumers, anglers and the aquaculture industry, working together, can ensure good aquaculture guidelines are met and bountiful and high quality fish are available to all. For more information, see the recommended link section. | |
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Click link for Action Alert...
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Featured Person of the month
In the world of developing drug candiates from natural products, while working at Wyeth/Phizer, Dr. Guy Carter has been a champion for decades.
Asked to address current challenges and opportunities, he describes both the potential and complexities of discovering, supplying, and developing naturally-derived drugs.
While many compounds of interest have been obtained from marine invertebrates such as sponges, or other sessile organisms that are readily collected on a small scale, a major underlying factor that impacts all marine natural products is the lack of an abundant supply of the compound.
"The concentration of the interesting metabolites in these organisms is often vanishingly low," says Dr. Carter, "but owing to powerful analytical technologies these compounds can be isolated and structurally defined."
"Often only milligram quantities of material are required for these experiments," he continues.
Highly sensitive model systems that require only minuscule amounts of compound to elicit a positive response make it possible to isolate and characterize compounds with potentially useful biological activity.
"Herein lies the dilemma," he says. "Further development requires a constant supply of material and often in relatively large amounts (e.g kilograms). This has been referred to as the "supply problem", and it remains one of the fundamental barriers to the development of marine natural products.
Great Opportunities
"Solving the supply problem is one of the great opportunities in this field of research," says Dr. Carter. Though aquacultural approaches remain an obvious area for further work, and synthetic chemistry is an area of active and fruitful research, perhaps the most promising development is the discovery that marine bacteria and other microbes are excellent sources of novel biologically active metabolites.
"Bacteria and other microbes can serve as readily scalable sources for production of metabolites," he says. "Large scale fermentation technology is widely used in the manufacture of antibiotics and other critical medicines, and such technologies can be developed for these new marine metabolites."
However, increased resources will have to be devoted to fundamental microbiological studies to understand the physiology and production requirements of these microbes, in order to realize their potential.
Progress in scaling production in the microbes we currently understand and exploration of the vast majority of such microbial life yet to be discovered are the keys to natural product development that will truly impact human health.
- Dr. Guy T. Carter is Assistant Vice President of Chemical Technologies, at Pfizer (formerly Wyeth Research), where he leads the Natural Products Discovery program. An editor of the peer reviewed journal Marine Drugs, Dr. Carter and his team have discovered dozens of biologically active metabolites from both marine and terrestrial micro-organisms since the early 1980's. Dr. Carter is also chairman for the upcoming Gordon Research Conference on Marine Natural Products, to be held in February 2010. |
UPCOMING EVENTS...
Oceans and Humans Health Gordan Research Seminar
June 12-13, 2010
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If you are interested in having your event listed in a future newsletter, please email kchoy@monmouth.edu with details. |
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