Sea Grant’s 2006
1st Quarter Highlights
(Archive of SG Highlights)With funding from Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, researchers have developed an easier test for toxic mercury in the environment, a problem found in fish caught in some Illinois lakes and streams. They developed a process, which is being patented, starting with easier-to-produce liquid samples that separate methylmercury by taking advantage of the difference in its electrical charge. The method was outlined in the October issue of Environmental Science & Technology.
North Carolina Sea Grant helped sponsor the new “Carteret Catch” seafood marketing campaign which debuted at the 2005 North Carolina Seafood Festival. A team of community volunteers developed the program and theme: “Select N.C. Seafood from the Fishermen of Carteret County.” Collaborators include commercial fishers, seafood distributors, restaurant owners, scientists, tourism experts, and educators. The campaign focuses on seafood caught by commercial fishers, processed by seafood dealers and served in restaurants — all in Carteret County. The hope is that this program will be a model for other coastal communities striving to compete in the global seafood marketplace.
Pennsylvania Sea Grant and partners spent the last six months educating the Southeast Asian community about the dangers of eating too much wild fish. The risk of toxins in fish was news to the three dozen Southeast Asian immigrants who attended a trilingual public-health demonstration at the Hung Vuong Community Center in South Philadelphia last week. They have spread the word through articles in ethnic newspapers, brochures, cooking demonstrations, and public-health sessions, all conducted in Vietnamese, Khmer and English.
After 16 years of research on lamprey pheromones, scientists at the University of Minnesota say they've found the chemical compound emitted by lamprey larvae that attracts adult lampreys to spawn up a stream. They hope to use a manufactured version of that pheromone to lure lampreys into specific streams and then into traps to kill them before they spawn. The discovery could revolutionize lamprey control and mean more fish, especially lake trout, in the Great Lakes. This is the first time ever that the chemical released by fish to spur migration has been isolated and reproduced. The findings could also affect salmon management, and even have human health possibilities. A nearly identical compound in sharks has been considered for cancer treatment.
Louisiana Sea Grant launched hurricane recovery website: Responding to the need for information in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program launched a recovery resources website at www.laseagrantorg/hurricane/index.htm. The Louisiana Hurricane Recovery Resources site offers visitors information on topics such as wetlands, seafood and water quality, as well as ports, economic impacts and rebuilding concerns. The experts provide the best current information, and updates are made as new data become available.
North Carolina Sea Grant researchers have isolated a new peptide antibiotic from the American oyster that may have implications for managing many diseases in oysters. The new antimicrobial peptide “American oyster defensin” (AOD) may protect against bacteria in Crassostrea virginica, a species that is native to North Carolina and important economically to Atlantic and Gulf Coast fisheries.
Marine geologists funded by Texas Sea Grant combined soundings from the Gulf of Mexico and topographic information from coastal areas in Texas and Louisiana making it easier to model massive storm surges. The researchers are pulling together data from a patchwork of soundings — literally millions of data points collected by the NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey over the past 100 years — from throughout the Texas-Louisiana Continental Shelf and upper Continental Slope, including bays and estuaries, to create the first detailed, easily readable and readily accessible maps of bathymetry, the topography of the land under water. A third researcher is synthesizing their results to create curriculum items for teachers in grades 6 through 12 in Texas and Louisiana to use in the classroom.
Alaska Sea Grant donated a percentage of earnings from sales of its 200 books and videos about Alaska's marine resources to U.S. Gulf Coast fishermen affected by hurricanes in 2005. Ten percent of sales from November 1, 2005 to April 30, 2006 will be donated to the Alaska Fishing Industry Relief Mission, Inc., a charity established by Alaska seafood harvesters and processors, seafood transportation companies, and the seafood banking industry in the wake of the Gulf Coast disasters. Alaska Sea Grant's donation is projected to be about $3,000.
Researchers supported by Georgia Sea Grant have shown for the first time that temperature affects the biological activity of microbes that degrade organic carbon in marine sediments. Warming global temperatures could therefore cause shifts in the balance of organic carbon that is recycled into the atmosphere or buried in sediments that serve as reservoirs for the substance.
Sea Grant’s Law Center organized a major effort to collect school supplies for children and teachers displaced along the Gulf coast. They amassed over 600 filled backpacks, 200 book bags, 10 boxes of teaching supplies, and many boxes of new t-shirts, toys, children's books, and other items.
Through the combined efforts of the Washington and Alaska Sea Grant programs and partners, a surplus Travelift was donated to Louisiana to help recover commercial and recreational boats damaged or displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita emerged. Officials’ estimate that a new, 60-ton lift like the one being donated would cost between $250,000 and $300,000.
Approximately 60 scientists, including the region's Sea Grant directors, have endorsed the paper, “Prescription for Great Lakes Ecosystem Protection and Restoration: Avoiding the Tipping Point of Irreversible Changes,” and its recommendations. The report underscores the urgent need for comprehensive restoration to repair the “immune system” of the Great Lakes, and to reverse a pattern of decline that threatens to affect drinking water, swimming, fishing, tourism and other benefits derived from the largest body of fresh water in the world.
In an attempt to control Styela clava’s spread, Washington State recently added an emergency provision to wildlife regulations, permitting unlimited collection of these so-called “fouling” organisms. Working with the Washington Sea Grant Program in Seattle, former Port Townsend resident Simon Geerlofs has been recruiting divers to clean the docks and slips of Pleasant Harbor Marina, where Styela clava has been slowly taking over.
Oregon Sea Grant Marine Educator, Bill Hanshumaker and other researchers from the Hatfield Marine Science Center and NOAA spent Dec. 4-13, 2005 on a voyage deploying hydrophones to monitor undersea sounds. The team traveled from South Korea's Antarctic station to the Russian research vessel, Yuzhmorgeologiya to install a deep-sea hydrophone network. "Sounds from the Southern Ocean" was intended to reveal more about ice sheet movement, undersea earthquakes, and even the calls of great whales. In addition to reporting on the voyage, Hanshumaker is developing exhibit material for the visitor center as well as collaborating on a presentation for the NPR Radio Expeditions feature.
Two Michigan marinas were designated “Michigan Clean Marinas” by the Michigan Clean Marina Program (CMP) Committee. The two facilities that met the program requirements include: Walstrom Marine, Inc. in Harbor Springs, Michigan and Belle Maer Harbor, Harrison Township, Michigan. The CMP program is a joint undertaking by the Michigan Boating Industries Association, Michigan Sea Grant and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
Oregon Sea Grant extension agents worked with coastal communities to prepare for natural disasters. Signage and siren warning systems in evacuation zones have improved and education efforts have been stepped up, but Sea Grant wants to ensure the community knows how to react if and when a tsunami or other natural disaster comes along.
The Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium won national honors from Clear Channel Radio’s approximately 1,500 stations for producing a Public Service Announcement (PSA) aimed at reducing marine debris. The PSA won first place in the most creative Public Service Announcement category from over 1,500 entries and featured a fish throwing seaweed, mud, dead carcasses, and pond scum at a human much like humans throw various forms of trash in the rivers, bays and oceans.