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NYSGMasthead-Coastlines



Welcome to New York Sea Grant's (NYSG) LateSpring-Summer 2014 New York Coastlines, our program's flagship electronic newsletter, now powered by Currents.

Along with Currents - NYSG's e-supplement to the once all-print-based NY Coastlines - our newly-merged flagship publication highlights news, events and other activities from our program's various research, extension and education endeavors throughout New York's marine and Great Lakes waters.

In this double issue, we'll cover a number of seasonal topics - including clean and safe boating, harmful algal blooms - as well as spotlight some of the program's recently-completed extension projects and newly-funded research projects. We'll offer some keys to successfully communicating information related to hurricanes and other severe storms and also offer some green tips for coastal living

You can also read all of the articles featured below via the issue's table of contents via our Web site.

And for an archive of NY Coastlines and Currents issues as well as a sign up for those not on our e-list, visit www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines.

Happy reading ...

Late Spring / Summer 2014
NY Coastlines / Currents; Vol. 43, No. 1 & 2 / Vol. 3, No. 1
Sprouting Up: New Research
NYSG Receives Nearly $2.4 M
for Coastal Research and Outreach Article

This collection of new research and outreach - powered by nearly $2.4 million from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - addresses storm hazards, climate change, fisheries health, hypoxia and harmful algal blooms. Read on >>

And here are some stories related to this new suite of research ...
Investigating Hard Clam Resistance
Against QPX Infection

Since the 1990s, several North American Northeast states have suffered severe losses in hard clam stocks due to a fatal disease caused by a microscopic parasite called Quahog Parasite Unknown (QPX). New York Sea Grant has funded numerous research projects conducted at Stony Brook University's Marine Animal Disease Lab to identify the QPX organism and its effects on the hard clam. Most recently, NYSG produced a colorful postcard series to highlight some of the the lab's studies and findings. Read on >>

Understanding Impacts of
Climate Change on Summer Flounder

Any changes that investigators find in fishing effort or shifts in flounder distribution will help to inform stock assessments and fishery management as well as provide insight on how to evaluate fish stocks under new climate situations. Read on >>

Studying the Impact of VHSV on a
Key St. Lawrence River Sportfishery

Project results of this NYSG-funded investigation will help managers and policymakers protect the $1.2 billion/year freshwater sportfisheries of New York. Also ... On Air: Muskies Recovering on the St. Lawrence River - As heard in this report from North Country Public Radio, while muskellunge, or muskies, are popular with anglers for their size and their ability to put up a fight, they are vulnerable to a disease called Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia, or VHS. Read on >>

Funding Opportunity:
NYSG's Special Research Call for Late 2014

This research must clearly be driven by identified needs and must provide enhanced opportunities for NYSG to 'make a difference' and have an impact on addressing important coastal issues. Preliminary proposal submissions can be made online through Wednesday, June 25, 2014.

Verify deadlines for and apply for funding opportunities at www.nyseagrant.org/proposals. Also, keep tabs on NYSG's fellowships and requests for proposals via our RSS news feed feature, www.nyseagrant.org/rss/fundingopportunities.


Spotlight: Extension Success Stories

Our program's impact statement series for recently-completed projects-made possible by collaborating with national, state, regional, and local partners-shows how Sea Grant's depth of programming can benefit NY's shoreline regions and have a profound impact on its coastal communities and economies. Outreach successes include, among others, Helping coastal property owners and communities evaluate living shorelines as an erosion control option; Offering more Americans with disabilities access Hudson River waterfront areas; Teaching students about the environment and having them conduct hands-on stewardship projects; Connecting diverse stakeholders with Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) science experts via several workshops to help mitigate the environmental and economic impacts of related outbreaks. Read on >>

Spotlight: Research Success Stories 
Long Island Sound Still Suffers from Hypoxia
Hypoxia, a condition where the loss of oxygen at the water's bottom affects fish and other living communities, is a concern for researchers studying Long Island Sound. This is an indication that other factors are at play, an issue that Sea Grant scholar Elizabeth Suter pursued with NYSG-funded SBU SoMAS co-investigators whose research was published in a February 2014 issue of the Marine Ecology Progress Series Journal. Read on >>

New Book Synthesizes Decades of
Long Island Sound Research

Long Island Sound: Prospects for the Urban Sea is a synthesis of nearly 1,500 research papers on what is known about the historic and recent trends of the ecological health of this water body on Long Island's North Shore. Read on >>

Long Island Sound Stewardship in New York
In Spring 2014, Long Island Sound Study partners with the Town of Brookhaven for field trips to several Long Island Sound Stewardship Sites. Opportunities including nature hikes provide teachers and student with opportunities to learn more about the wonders of the Sound in a hands-on format. Read on >>

On YouTube: Sea Grant Research Helps Develop a Biological Control for Invasive Mussels
As reported in The New York Times, New York Sea Grant research has helped develop a safe, effective, patented biocontrol agent for zebra and quagga mussels that is cheaper than traditional control methods. Read on >>

Lake Ontario Resident Anglers:
Motivations, Constraints, and Facilitators

As part of its goal to promote robust coastal business development, NYSG funded a study of Lake Ontario resident anglers, a large and fairly stable angler group whose travel within the Lake Ontario region is less affected by high fuel costs and the state of the economy than non-resident anglers. Read on >>

Spotlight: Severe Storm Awareness & Preparedness 
Communications is Key to Hurricane Preparedness
Atlantic Hurricane Season began June 1 and, as documented by National Sea Grant Office 2014 Knauss Fellow Elizabeth Bevand, Sea Grant is helping communities throughout the U.S. prepare for hurricanes for the short and long term. Also, NYSG's Web Content Manager Paul C. Focazio (pictured above) is profiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Sea Grant College Program about what everyone needs to know about preparing for a hurricane as well as how he got hooked on science communications and how others in or considering the field might sharpen their skills. Read on >>

NOAA and Sea Grant Issue 2014 Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook in NYC
 What was the outlook for the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season? That was the topic of discussion at a news conference held at the New York City Office of Emergency Management in Brooklyn on Thursday, May 22. Also, New York Sea Grant joins other Great Lakes Sea Grant programs in a social science study to help evaluate more effective weather warnings. Read on >>

Be Aware On and Beyond NOAA Sea Grant's National Rip Current Awareness Week and Beach Safety Week
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Sea Grant and their partners want you to be aware of the dangers of rip currents so that you can enjoy a summer of fun in the sun at the shore. Read on >>

Researchers Convene in NYC to Discuss Improving Community Awareness on Coastal Storms
Cornell Chronicle, Syracuse's Post Standard and a string of newspapers, including New York's Newsday, are just some of the media outlets giving attention to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s $1.4M "Coastal Storm Awareness Program" (CSAP). This multi-year effort-a partnership between NOAA and Sea Grant programs in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut-is intended to raise awareness of how severe weather is communicated to and within communities. Read on >>

Sandy's Harsh Legacy: NYSG Helps New Yorkers Understand and Mitigate Its Impacts
In Sandy's wake, New York Sea Grant surveyed 250 marinas feeling $85 million in economic impacts, tracked the fate of nitrogen inputs to salt marsh ecosystem following sewage treatment failure, and monitored the growth of Fire Island breach. Read on >>

Also ... NYSG Responds with Research and Outreach
Weathering the Next Big Storm
This Stony Brook Magazine feature examines the efforts of the often-New York Sea Grant-funded Stony Brook's Storm Surge Research Group, whose members offer a bold plan to protect New York City. Read on >>

Stony Brook University Researcher
Malcolm Bowman vs. The Storms

As declared by The Village Times Herald, a weekly newspaper published on Long Island's north shore, Bowman was named a "Man of the Year" for raising awareness of coastal storm dangers. A summary of other topical media discussions with the likes of NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, the BBC, and journalist Dan Rather is also included. Read on >>

Spotlight: Earth Day, Every Day 
In late April, New York Sea Grant Communications Manager Barbara A. Branca (pictured above) represented our NOAA coastal program at Stony Brook University's EarthStock Festival, which capped off a week of environmentally-minded related events. Coverage from last year's event can be found via "NYSG 'Greens Up' 2013 Earth Day Fests in NYC, on Long Island." And for more on the topic, see NYSG's related resources site, www.nyseagrant.org/greentips.

Here are some of NYSG's 'green' stories making headlines this season ...

Municipal Officials Conference: Managing Cesspools and Septic Systems to Protect Long Island's Waters
 Approximately 130 coastal managers, septic and cesspool company business owners, researchers, water quality professionals, elected officials, engineers and concerned citizens gathered for a March 2014 conference to hear experts deliver much needed information about the state of Long Island's cesspools and septic systems and where we go from here. Read on >>

Also ... On Blog: Where Does It All Go? - What it is like to have a group of professionals inspect your home septic system? When the criteria for candidate homes for inspections was discussed by the organizers of March 2014's  Cesspool and Septic conference, Eric Swenson realized that his home in Oyster Bay, fairly close to Long Island Sound, seemed like a good candidate. Read on >>
On Air: Microplastics in Our Waters Takes Center Stage at 2014 State of Lake Erie Meeting
"For years people have worried about the environmental impacts from plastics left behind in the oceans and Great Lakes," writes NYSG Coastal Education Specialist Helen Domske in a recently-produced two-page "Microbeads" fact sheet. "Some plastic particles result from the breakdown of larger plastic items, but others are small plastic spheres known as microbeads." In April, Domske hosted the 21st State of Lake Erie meeting, which focused on the sources and impacts of microplastics via featured speaker Dr. Sherri A. Mason, who also recently discussed the topic on National Public Radio and will, in late May, will address teachers and students through a New York State Marine Education Association-hosted webinar. Additionally, recent anti-microplastics legislation in New York State is highlighted. Read on >>

Also ... Fact Sheet: Plastic Microbeads in the Great Lakes (pdf)
Sea Grant Brings "A Dose of Reality" to USDEA's National Prescription Drug Take-Back Days
Since the inception of the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network's "Dose of Reality" campaign,  more than 2 million pills have been collected at drug drop-off events in the five states. The National Take Back Days have removed a combined 3.4 million pounds of medication from circulation. The primary reason for collection days and education on proper disposal is because unwanted prescription drugs can pollute local waterways, posing a threat to public health, wildlife, and our natural environment. Read on >>

On YouTube, On Air: Sea Grant Partners to Discover a Bigger, Better Boating Education Program
Currently in it's seventh season, the New York Sea Grant-initiated "Discover Clean & Safe Boating" project has become a model industry-partnered educational effort that has expanded from Great Lakes' venues to sites statewide. The exhibit has now been seen by more than 500,000 boaters and potential boaters ... and counting in all of New York state's coastal regions. Here-replete with a series of informative television and radio clips and boating safety tips-we offer a snapshot of where the campaign has been since its inception in 2008 and where it's headed in 2014. Read on >>

Program Updates & Publications
Connecting in with New York's Coastal Communities
Launched in 2011, New York Sea Grant's Coastal Community Development Program currently drives forward with its efforts under a single commonality: New York Great Lakes coastal communities depend on healthy ecosystems for their economic vitality. "Things like changing weather patterns, invasives species, population growth and recreational pressure are potential threats to natural resources, which often drive regional economics," says NYSG's Coastal Community Development Specialist Mary Penney. "With a number of stakeholder interests such as local governments, businesses, planners, resource managers, an understanding of Great Lakes ecosystems can be complicated but vital in decision-making processes."

NYSG extension and education efforts under this program can be found via the links below, as well as in the related resource Web site's archive, which is located under the "News/Topics" link in the left-hand sidebar at www.nyseagrant.org/ccd.
 
Business Survey
Nearly 600 recreation and tourism businesses in NY's Oswego County asked to participate in NYSG and SUNY Oswego's Business Retention/Expansion Pilot Program. Read on >>

Coastal Steward
Student stewards in 2014's Launch Stewards program to provide watercraft inspection training & public outreach to boaters at select Lake Ontario launch ramps. Read on >>

How-To Inspect
In a nearly 7 minute video, NYSG's launch stewards illustrate how you can prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species while enjoying your recreational time on NY's waters. Read on >>

Knauss Fellow
The competitive fellowship recruits students from 33 Sea Grant programs nationwide to complete a one-year paid fellowship in either the U.S. legislative or executive branch in D.C.
Nesting Birds
In this colorful fact sheet, New York Sea Grant teamed up with birding experts to describe some of the strategies birds use to protect themselves from their natural predators.
What's Extension
A 2013 revision of Sea Grant Fundamentals offers a context for the national program's structure, planning, evaluation, networks, partnerships, and relationship to Sea Grant research. Read on >>

Events & Activities
On YouTube, On Blog: NYSG Harmful Algal Bloom Workshops a Model for Great Lakes Stakeholders
New York Sea Grant-organized Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) workshops connect diverse stakeholders with HAB science experts to help mitigate the environmental and economic impacts of related outbreaks. Also featured: video footage from one of the workshops as well as pictures and blog entries from NYSG-funded researchers extending their HABs studies to the general public through teacher trainings and informal on-the-water hands-on workshops. Read on >>
 
Partnership Puts Accessibility for All at Boat Launches and Waterfront Parks Within Reach
Through a partnership with with the Northeast Americans with Disabilities Act Center at Cornell's school of Industrial and Labor Relations and the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation's  Hudson Estuary Program, New York Sea Grant evaluated a series of boat launches and adjacent beach areas located along a 100 mile stretch of shoreline on both sides of the Hudson River. Why? To increase recreational access to New York's waterfront resources for people with disabilities. Read on >>
 
On YouTube: Geospatial Literacy: Examining Coastal Change Over Time With New York City Teachers
Since 2008, New York Sea Grant and Cornell University's Institute for Resource Information Sciences Geospatial Program and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences have been guiding educators - 65 in the last two years alone - in a series of mapping exercises drawn from a Web-based mapping project on how coastlines change over time along more than 500 miles of New York's urban coastal and estuarine environments. Read on >>
 
MWA's Annual Conference: Rebuilding NYC's  Waterfront in the Wake of Severe Storms; City of Water Day Up Next
The focus of this Spring 2014 conference was on grassroots, community-based waterfront plans developed before and after Superstorm Sandy. As panelists and the hundreds of attendees alike asked during the day-long discussion sessions, we've surely done great planning, but are we doing enough to get the job done? Read on >>
 
Teachers Offer Each Other Activity Ideas at NYC Marine Science Workshop
This interactive "share-a-thon," the third of its kind in as many years, links teachers up with innovative curricula ideas related to marine science subjects and programs. Read on >>
 
On Blog, On YouTube: Bay Scallop Bowl Winners Advance to Nationals
Winners of 2014's Bay Scallop Bowl, held at Stony Brook University in March 2014, were from Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn, NY. "This event gets New York high school students excited about the marine sciences," says William Wise, Associate Director of SBU's School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences and NYSG's Interim Director. "For some, it's just a competition; for others, however, it is an entr� into a lifelong avocation and, for a few, it's a career move." Read on >>
 
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NYSGMasthead-Currents
NYSG's Currents News Archives  (Currents, Vol. 3, No. 1)
In case you missed any of NYSG's news that we've been posting on our Web site between issues of NY Coastlines / Currents, below is a sampling of some of those stories.

You can come ashore anytime for the latest at www.nyseagrant.org/currents. And for even more Currents, check out the topics in the archives section of NYSG's Web site, www.nyseagrant.org/currentsarchive.

  • On YouTube: Life Beneath the Surface - Spring Outlook for NY's Great Lakes NYSG Specialist Helen Domske talks on WGRZ-TV Buffalo about how the cold winter has impacted New York's Great Lakes - from ice cover, evaporation and lake levels to invasive species control.   
           
  • On YouTube: Study Proposes Ways To Keep Asian Carp Out Of Great Lakes NYSG's Dave White speaks with Watertown's WWNY-TV 7 News This Morning newscasters about a January 2014-released report outlining eight options for keeping Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.  
             
  • New York Sea Grant Joined NOAA and NWS in Support of 2014's National Severe Weather Preparedness Week Read on >>
    Highlighting NYSG's recent round of research and education to raise awareness of severe storms like Superstorm Sandy.    
         
  • NOAA Provides Future Flood Zones for New York City Read on >>
    Since 2010, Stony Brook University (SBU) School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) oceanographer Malcolm Bowman, a long-time NYSG-funded researcher, has served on the New York Panel Climate Change and co-authored the recently released, related report.    
     
  • On Air, On YouTube: All Eyes on NYSG-Assisted Web-Based Boaters' Forecast Tool Read on >>
    A new Web-based, real-time tool for recreational boaters extends Great Lakes global observing technology to the St. Lawrence River with some data specific to the river system.   
About NY Coastlines / Currents and New York Sea Grant

New York Coastlines
is a product of NYSG's project C/PC-11funded under award NA10OAR4170064 granted to the Research Foundation of SUNY on behalf of NYSG from the National Sea Grant College Program of the US Dept. of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

New York Coastlines / Currents is e-distributed several times a year. An archive of all the articles featured in this and previous issues is at: www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastines.

Sea Grant is a national network of 33 university- based programs whose research, extension and outreach programs promote better understanding, conservation and use of America's coastal resources. NYSG has been "Bringing Science to the Shore" since 1971 as a joint program of the State University of New York and Cornell University. For more about NYSG, visit www.nyseagrant.org/whatisnysg. New York Sea Grant provides equal opportunities in employment and programming.
 
For updates on Sea Grant activities in New York's Great Lakes and marine waters, go online to www.nyseagrant.org where you can subscribe to an RSS news feed and follow NYSG via social media on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

To revise your information for our print and/or electronic editions of New York Coastlines or Currents, click on the "Update Profile/E-mail address" link in the footer of this message. We encourage new subscribers to join our e-list via our online form.

 
New York Sea Grant Administration
121 Discovery Hall / Stony Brook University / Stony Brook, NY 11794-5001
E: [email protected] / P: 631.632.6905

New York Sea Grant Extension
112 Rice Hall / Cornell University / Ithaca, NY 14853-5601
E: [email protected] / P: 607.255.2386

For a list of NYSG's offices and staff, visit