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News Awards and Appointments Spring E-currents Home |
Sea Grant programs tackle "working waterfronts"
• Virginia
Sea Grant hosts national Working Waterways & Waterfronts
conference
• North
Carolina's Waterfront Access Study Committee releases
recommendations
• Maine
Sea Grant report addresses coastal access head on
• Michigan
Sea Grant explores "form-based" zoning to maintain public
access and working waterfronts
• Mississippi-Alabama
Sea Grant takes stock of Gulf waterfronts
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National
Rip Current Awareness Week, June 3-9, 2007
Rip Current Awareness Week focuses on alerting beachgoers
to the threat of rip currents and how to escape their
strong and potentially fatal grip. The event
is part of the Break the Grip of the Rip national
rip current awareness campaign. Partners include NOAA’s
National Weather Service, the National Sea Grant College
Program, and the National Ocean Service, as well as the
United States Lifesaving Association, and the National
Park Service. The Sea Grant state programs and partners
have produced thousands of brochures, magnets and beach
signs (in English and Spanish) warning swimmers about
the dangers of rip currents and telling them how to escape.
New rip current stickers for teens and a fact sheet highlighting
key rip current information are now available along with
a wealth of information at the NOAA rip currents website:
ripcurrents.noaa.gov
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See Regional Highlights Below!
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Law
Center
Coastal
Case Alert Monthly Updates
The
Case Alert is a monthly listserv highlighting
recent court decisions impacting ocean
and coastal resource management. For
more information, please visit: Sea
Grant Law Center.
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National Sea Grant Library
April 2007 listing of new Sea Grant
publications available
The April listing of new Sea Grant publications produced
by the National Sea Grant College Program can be
found at the National
Sea Grant Library. |
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Regional
Highlights Continued....
Pacific:
Saving
Nemo: Researchers hope to reduce mortality in marine
ornamental fish
Oregon Sea Grant researchers are working to help more
aquarium fish survive the often hazardous journey from
where they're collected to their arrival in pet shops
and home aquaria. This may result in healthier fish
and happier pet owners, while also yielding significant
environmental and economic benefits. The collaboration
allows the researchers to examine causes of mortality
at all stages of the supply chain, from capture on tropical
coral reefs to purchase by hobbyists. The marine fish
aquarium hobby is growing by approximately 1 percent
a year— faster than any other pet ownership sector.
Nearly 99 percent of the fish are caught in the wild,
not raised in captivity. Typical mortality rates range
from about five to 12 percent, according to studies.
Preliminary observations suggest that water quality
and handling, rather than parasitic or bacterial infections,
are the biggest problems faced by marine fish shipped
to the U.S. for the pet trade.
More
Pacific News (AK
CA [CA,USC] HI OR SC WA)
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Great
Lakes: Lake Superior warming faster than the air around it
Jay Austin, a scientist at the University of Minnesota-Duluth,
documented this warming. Austin presented his work as
part of Minnesota Sea Grant's "Ask a Scientist" discussion
series. The scientist noted that Lake Superior's surface
water temperature last summer reached a peak of 74 degrees.
"Until recently, it rarely broke 60 degrees," he said.
Global warming could be a factor, Austin said, not because
the air is so much warmer—but because the winters
are shorter and less ice forms on the lake. The result
is that the lake warms up sooner and earlier than in past
years, and does so rapidly. As scientists see the warming
of the big lake, they are particularly worried about its
vulnerability to exotic species. Right now, the frigid
waters act as a natural barrier, he said. "The lake is
responding much faster to climate change," he added. Whether
that might ultimately mean that it won't ice over at all
during the winter remains to be seen.
More
Great Lakes News (IL-IN
MI MN NY OH PA VT WI)
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Northeast:
New York Sea Grant science on Jamaica Bay featured in Newsday
Scientists are suggesting a common cause for two seemingly
unrelated events: the feminization of fish in Jamaica
Bay, where the former 50-50 male-to-female ratio has all
but disappeared, and enlarged breasts in young boys. The
common factor is endocrine disruptors (found in detergents,
cosmetics and other products) that scientists now believe
play havoc with normal hormone activity. Sea Grant researcher
Anne McElroy's data shows gender change in Jamaica Bay's
flounder due to chemical residues (the endocrine disruptors)
that find their way into Jamaica Bay where the fish live.
These residues mimic the female hormone estrogen, which
may explain the three cases of enlarged breasts in young
boys. The three cases prompted the National Institutes
of Health to advise doctors to suspect the use of cosmetics
that act as endocrine disruptors.
More
Northeast News (CT
MA [MIT, Woods Hole] ME NH NY RI
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Mid-Atlantic:
Maryland Chesapeake Bay shellfish aquaculture planning project underway
A collaborative effort is underway to explore shellfish aquaculture development in the Chesapeake Bay region.
In cooperation with NOAA's National Sea Grant College Program, the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office has funded Maryland Sea Grant to facilitate a Chesapeake Bay Shellfish Aquaculture Planning Project to guide future efforts and investments in the Chesapeake Bay region.
The project will engage a broad group of stakeholders in both Maryland and Virginia.
More
Mid-Atlantic News (DE
MD NC NJ VA)
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Southeast:
Sea Grant land-use planning report seeks to protect residents from natural hazards
Better land-use planning—such as prohibitions on
construction in very low areas—could improve hurricane
protection in Louisiana, but it will take a state mandate
to make that happen, according to Louisiana Sea Grant.
Jim Wilkins, director of the legal advisory service at
Louisiana Sea Grant, is working with Sea Grant researchers
and representatives from the nonprofit Coalition to Restore
Coastal Louisiana on a report about the legal issues and
possibilities of land-use planning in Louisiana. The report
is being prepared with the idea that land-use planning
can reduce vulnerability during hurricanes or other storms,
even in areas protected by levee systems, which are not
surefire protection. Land-use planning could include prohibitions
against construction in very low areas or mandates for
certain elevations above what the Federal Emergency Management
Agency recommends. When completed later this year, the
report will recommend that the state require parishes
to come up with land-use planning that limits damage from
natural hazards.
More
Southeast/Gulf/Caribbean News (FL
GA LA MS-AL PR SC TX)
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