Lights, camera, action! Dr. Peter Rowe, associate director for Sea Grant Administration and director of research and extension, and Mindy Voss, education specialist, were featured in an episode of Aqua Kids TV. During the day of filming at Sandy Hook, Rowe and Voss took the Aqua Kids seining to explore the biodiversity of Sandy Hook Bay.
Aqua Kids is an award-winning K-12 program that airs nationally. Reaching more than 90 million households, the program aims to educate children about ecology, wildlife and science. The show has won two Emmy awards.
Sea Grant works with coastal communities around the country to strengthen their ability to plan, adapt, and recover to coastal hazards. As part of an effort to visualize the wide breadth of community resilience projects across the National Sea Grant program, Delaware Sea Grant developed this interactive story map.
GALLOWAY — The levels of ocean acid are higher along the coastal waters of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast than they are in along southern Atlantic coasts, which puts one of New Jersey’s growing industries at risk.
That’s a concern of regional marine scientists and other stakeholders across the Mid-Atlantic, who want to pull together to create a team to study and address the problem.
“We need to pull together in order to find solutions that reduce the impacts of ocean acidification on our ecosystems and shellfish industry,” said Dr. Peter Rowe, NJSGC’s director of research and extension.
They gathered at Stockton University in August for a discussion — organized in part by the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium —with experts and stakeholders about the current state of New Jersey’s coastal waters and what threats OA, as it is called, poses to the Mid-Atlantic.
As oceans become more acidic, the nutrients available to shellfish become sparse. They can’t grow shells, or their shells become too weak.
The destructive potential for OA, as it is called, is a huge problem for the shellfish industry in the Northwest.
Between 2005 and 2009 shellfish production collapsed by 80 percent, according to a PBS report. In Washington State the industry is worth $270 million and employs thousands of people.
Daniel Cohen theowner of Atlantic Capes Fisheries, said that the Pacific Ocean acidification brought the indutry to its knees. Oysterman were hauling in 600 to 700 bushels of oysters with a value of $60 million, but that dropped to zero, he said.
“Research on ocean acidification and shellfish is just beginning here in New Jersey, and there are no indications of a serious problem at this time,” said Lisa Calvo, the New Jersey Sea Grant aquaculture specialist.
In New Jersey, shellfish harvesting has grown from $98.65 million in 2003 to $159 million in 2012, according to NOAA figures. And commercial fishing in general employed more than 50,000 people in 2012, and was worth $2.87 billion across all sectors.
Beyond the economic benefits of shellfish, they are critical to the environment.
To that end, several environmental groups have been working to rebuild shellfish reefs in Barnegat Bay, and the state Senate has approved a law that would open closed waters in Raritan and Sandy Hook bays to rebuilding oyster reefs for research purposes. The law has not passed the Legislature because a similar law has not yet recieved approval in the General Assembly.
And, Calvo, at the Rutgers Haskin Shellfish Laboratory, coordinates Project PORTS, or Promoting Oyster Restorarion Through Schools, which is an effort to build an artificial oyster reef in protected Delaware Bay waters.
“Oysters are filter feeders, they consume phytoplankton from the water and as they filter their food from the water they improve water quality. This is one of the most important ecological services that oysters provide,” Calvo explained. “ Additionally oysters form reefs as generations of oysters settle on one another. The oyster reefs serve as important habitat for many fish species and crabs.”
Dr. Jon Miller, the NJSGC coastal process specialist, spoke with CBS Radio on Friday about the possibility of weekend rip currents cause by a passing storm over the ocean.
Sometimes, it’s easy to spot rip currents from shore, Miller said. But, they are not always visible. Miller’s advice is simple: swim near a lifeguard and don’t do things in the ocean that you know you’re not capable of doing.
Miller’s warning comes at a time when authorities have scoured the beach at Sandy Hook for two days looking for a missing 25-year-old man. His body was recovered Friday, according to the Asbury Park Press. Rip currents have not been identified in the man’s drowning. However, authorities told the Press the man was not a skilled swimmer and swam in the ocean after lifeguards had left the beach.
Last year, a 17-year-old boy drowned at Sandy Hook after being caught in a rip current.
For more information about rip currents such as how to identify them and what to do if you are caught in one, click here.
Boy Scouts who want to earn the oceanography and environmental science merit badges can now register for fall classes. The programs are open to all Boy Scouts. To register for either program, contact Jody Sackett JSackett@njseagrant.org or 732-872-1300, ext. 20.
New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium and North Atlantic Regional Team, or NART, will host an ocean and coastal acidification workshop August 11 for stakeholders in the Garden State.
This event is hosted by Stockton University, and is supported by NOAA James J. Howard Marine Sciences Laboratory, Rutgers’ Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory and Aquaculture Innovation Center, and Delaware Sea Grant.
Who: Peter Rowe of the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium, which is sponsoring the event; Wei Jun Cai of the University of Delaware; Beth Phelan of the National Marine Fisheries Service, Sandy Hook Lab, NJ; Judy Weis of Rutgers University; Daniel Cohen and Peter Hughes of Atlantic Capes Fisheries; Interim Dean Peter Straub of Stockton University’s School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
What: Ocean and Coastal Acidification Workshop – an opportunity to hear more about ongoing research into the impact of ocean acidification, which has hit West Coast fisheries hard and could become a threat to New Jersey’s industry.
Shellfish harvesting in New Jersey has grown from $98.65 million in 2003 to $159 million in 2012, according to NOAA figures. Commercial fishing in general employed more than 50,000 people in 2012, and was worth $2.87 billion across all sectors.
Oceans become more acidic as the water absorbs more and more carbon dioxide, which strips the oceans of carbonate, a key shell-building nutrient.
“Research on ocean acidification and shellfish is just beginning here in New Jersey, and there are no indications of a serious problem at this time,” said Lisa Calvo, the New Jersey Sea Grant aquaculture specialist. “The question of how OA affects these industries is something that the workshop is meant to address,” along with environmental impacts.
When: Tuesday, Aug. 11 from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Detailed agenda attached.
Where: The Board of Trustees Conference Room, Campus Center, Stockton University, 101 Vera King Farris Drive, Galloway, N.J.
Multimedia: The event will have photography and video opportunities.
Media Access: For information, wi-fi accounts or other help on the day of the event, please call Maryjane Briant at 609-652-4593 or 609-335-3859.
The purpose of this workshop is for stakeholders — fishing, aquaculture, water quality and marine resources management and other non-governmental organization officials — to become better informed about ocean acidification. Scientists and officials want to learn from the stakeholders so they can develop an implementation plan for addressing ocean and coastal acidification in the Northeast.
Get 20 facts about ocean acidification, click here.
The day will include an overview presentation on the state of the science of ocean and coastal acidification, presentations from local industry representatives, and breakout sessions to hear more about changes you are seeing on the water, and on what issues and problems scientists and officials should focus their attention in the near future.
The workshop is free, but space is limited to the first 50 people who register. To register, please fill out the below. Read More …
The Army Corps of Engineers completed work on the first phase of a $105 million storm resiliency and flood mitigation project in the Port Monmouth section of Middletown Township, according to a report in the Asbury Park Press. But the project will present new challenges, according to a New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium and Monmouth University expert.
The $17.7 million first phase was reportedly in development for years before the storm, but the damage sustained to the small bayside community in the aftermath of the tempest made completion of the project a priority.
Port Monmouth is a small peninsula. To the north of the 3,800-person community is Sandy Hook Bay, to the west and east are Pews and Compton creeks and their respective salt marshes. The Superstorm Sandy surge and tidal flooding reportedly damaged 750 homes. The community had 1,441 housing units, according to the 2010 census.
“Being that the project was in the pipeline for the past couple of decades, it can be seen as a worthwhile venture,” said Dr. Michael Schwebel, reacting to the report. “It is well-rounded and holistic in that it will address the Sandy Hook Bay and back creek flooding through tide gates, levees, and water pumping stations.”
Schwebel is the community resilience and climate adaptation specialist for NJSGC and Monmouth University’s Urban Coast Institute.
In the first phase, sand dunes were built 13 feet above sea level to provide storm surge protection, 400,000 cubic yards of sand was placed along Monmouth County’s Bayshore Waterfront Park and a stone groin that extends 300 feet into Sandy Hook Bay was built. Additionally, the Port Monmouth fishing pier was extended 195 feet into the bay.
Related: NJSGC Dune It Right Manual is a guide to dune restoration: click here.
“These are the types of projects that will help alleviate some of the flooding, surge, and overall impact of storm events and impacts of sea-level rise,” Schwebel said. “However, like the article stated, this is only Phase 1. This project is only focused on water coming in from Sandy Hook Bay and the future phases will help to solidify the resilience of Port Monmouth.”
In New Jersey, rip currents cause an average of two drownings each summer, according to Dr. Jon Miller, NJSGC coastal process specialist, who works on rip current awareness. Researchers in Texas now want to know how much everyone else knows about rips.
Dr. Chris Houser of Texas A&M University and Dr. Rob Brander of the University of New South Wales, with support from the Texas Sea Grant College Program, have designed a survey to determine the public’s knowledge about rip currents and the effectiveness of the current warning signs in use at surf beaches around the country.
Click here for information from New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium about rip currents.
“The results of this survey will be used to determine whether our current efforts are visible, memorable and can be understood by beach users, or whether we need to rethink how to warn beach users of the rip danger before they enter the water,” said Houser, an associate professor of geography and associate dean for undergraduate affairs in Texas A&M’s College of Geosciences. “We hope that this information will help reduce the number of fatalities involving rip currents.”
Click here to read Texas Sea Grant’s post about the survey.
Rips are fast-moving currents of water that can pull even the strongest swimmer away from the shore. According to the U.S. Lifesaving Association, rip currents account for at least a hundred deaths each year at U.S. surf beaches.
The warning signs and other educational materials and activities, including National Weather Service surf zone forecasts and Rip Current Preparedness Week, are part of the decade-long “Break the Grip of the Rip” public awareness campaign by USLA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The signs are illustrations designed to instruct people how to escape from a rip current if they become trapped in one, and show the rip from a bird’s-eye view rather than the perspective of someone on the beach.
