Earlier this year, New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium (NJSGC), The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries James J. Howard Marine Sciences Lab (Howard Lab), Congressman Frank Pallone, and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center formed a partnership to fund opportunities for a faculty mentor and their trainees/students from a New Jersey college or university to conduct a research project related to New Jersey coastal health. The teams will receive up to $70,000 for a 2- year project or $35,000 for a 1- year project.
Awardees have been selected for the 2023 Sandy Hook Partnerships in Coastal Studies Research Opportunity. The three projects observe multiple coastal studies, including biodiversity in living shorelines, hard substrate impacts on benthic infaunal communities, and filth fly’s functional biodiversity at wastewater and coastal sites.
The teams will work with the NOAA Fisheries Howard Lab and New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium to accelerate our coastal health research and bring novel ideas and solutions to regional challenges in conservation, management, and sustainability of our coastal marine resources. They will use the Howard Lab’s facilities and contribute to diversity in marine science while working side-by-side with NOAA Fisheries scientists. The students will learn about careers at NOAA Fisheries and receive mentorship to support their development into early career researchers.
Dr. Peter Rowe, Executive Director of New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium notes, “It is important to the Consortium’s core mission to serve New Jersey’s coast and coastal communities through science and research, and even more significant to contribute to workforce development and diversity within the field. NJSGC is excited to aid in supporting these projects and furthering the important relationship between students and their mentors to expand students’ careers into future STEM professionals.”
Dr. Beth Phelan, Chief of the Howard Lab’s Fisheries Ecology Branch, explained, “At NOAA Fisheries, our key values are people, science and service as we carry out our mission to provide the scientific information needed for productive, sustainable and healthy marine ecosystems and coastal communities. Our lab is unique in the mid-Atlantic. We value inclusive partnerships and aim to serve our diverse population equitably. These grants are hopefully the beginning of a bright future.
Project 1: It’s not just oysters! The importance of biodiversity in restoration studies. PI Mentor: Dr. Allison Fitzgerald [email protected]
Mentees: Isabella Soures-Souzam, Lupita Coate, Sonali Rajukar, David Labagais Oysters are an important part of shallow estuary ecosystems along the Atlantic coast. However, in Raritan Bay and up through the Hudson Estuary in New Jersey, these oyster reefs were decimated by years of overharvesting and pollution. Climate change has led to stronger storm surges along the NJ coastlines, and successful oyster reefs function as a ‘living shoreline’, protecting the shoreline from flooding and damage. Artificial oyster reefs, created with cement structures and living oysters, have been used in NJ successfully; however, after 2-3 years the living oysters die off and recruitment of new oysters is very low. One reason for this could be other organisms growing on the artificial shoreline structures preventing the oysters from coming back.
In order to investigate, the team from New Jersey City University will do a lab and field experiment this summer at Sandy Hook. Oyster castles®, blocks that are used to build artificial reefs, will be placed underwater at Sandy Hook for 2 weeks – 2 months to accumulate colonizing animals and algae on them. Then, these castles will be brought into the NOAA Howard Lab and baby oysters will be placed in the tank. We will observe the castles for 5 weeks to count how many of the oysters attach to the castles.
This project will connect several New Jersey City University undergraduate biology students with the greater marine science community of Raritan Bay and NJ. It will provide an opportunity to work in a government lab using equipment that the students would not have access to at NJCU. The students will learn about experimental design and data collection and analysis techniques. They will also work alongside restoration and aquaculture scientists. This project is also funded by a grant from the NOAA Office of Aquaculture.
Oyster castle with oysters and algae growing on it.
Field site at Sandy Hook, located near Horseshoe cove
Student Isabella identifying organisms in Sandy Hook
Project 2: How do benthic infaunal communities respond to the insertion of hard substrates?
Mentee: Sophia Piper Most of the ocean bottom is composed of soft sediment such as sand or mud. When a hard surface is placed there by humans, animals that prefer to live on hard surfaces like mussels and barnacles are quick to colonize the area, creating an artificial reef. This displaces the animals in the soft sediment. Most research on these interactions focuses on the animals inhabiting the hard structure, but not the soft sediment. Thus, our team from Rutgers University will conduct a field experiment to evaluate the response of the soft sediment community to the insertion of hard surfaces by comparing the community of an existing artificial reef and associated soft sediments with a newly placed hard surface and surrounding soft sediment habitat.
Sophia Piper surfaces with the core to place in a storage bag and place in Jasper.
Megan is about to dive for the core, Sophia watches, and in the foreground Jasper the floating lab assistant holds bags and samples.
Jeff Pessutti points to the site of the first plot.
Project 3: Filth fly (Diptera; Muscidae, Calliphoridae) functional biodiversity at wastewater and coastal sites to explore impact on water associated industries
A collaborative team from Rutgers University’s Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Entomology, and Plant Science will study the potential role of filth-associated flies within the ecology of human and fish diseases. We will sample and test flies from the Sandy Hook Gateway National Recreation Area and a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in New Jersey. Our project merges the study of fly biodiversity with studying the microbes like viruses or bacteria in the guts of flies from different locations to learn whether wastewater flies have the same gut microbes as flies from the beach. The main human pathogens of interest are:
the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 in humans,
seafood-borne pathogens like bacteria in the genus Vibrio, and
the bacterium Aeromonas hydrophila, which are a threat to commercial fish farms.
This project will allow us to draw conclusions about how quickly filth flies become associated with new pathogens found in human waste and provide information about environmental health to people who raise and catch fish in New Jersey.
It may be summer, but don’t forget to read all about our work from over the Spring season in our Spring 2023 ‘COASTodian’ newsletter! Stay up to date on what we’ve been up to during the season! New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium’s ‘COASTodian’ newsletter Spring 2023 is now available online here.
Check out some highlights from this edition of the COASTodian:
– NJSGC held it’s annual State of the Shore Media Event
– Celebrating 20 Years of Ocean Fun Days: Through Rain and Shine, We Had A Good Time!
– Research spotlight: New Jersey Response of Salt Marsh Methane Emissions to Sea Level Rise
– Coastal Health Initiative Grant Awardees Selected for the 2023 Sandy Hook Partnerships in Coastal Studies Research Opportunity
NJSGC’s Fish and Wildlife marine recreational fishing regulation cards are now available for 2023. The free, downloadable cards are provided by New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Please clickhere to download a copy.
The cards provide information on the correct minimum size, possession limits, and season of catch. The cards are convenient to bring on any fishing outing, complete with built-in ruler to measure your catch and make sure they are above the minimum size. We recommend laminating after printing.
Fish are measured from tip of snout to tip of tail, with the exception of black sea bass and sharks. No species of fish with a minimum size limits listed on the card can be filleted or cleaned at sea.
The cards also serve as a reminder to register to fish. It is free and can be done at SaltwaterRegistry.nj.gov.
Please visit our website or NJFishandWildlife.com for more resources. Also feel free to contact NJSGC’s Assistant Director of Extension and Marine Recreation Agent: Fisheries and Boating Mike Danko for additional information.
NJSGC held its annual Jersey Shore Photo Contest again this year. The contest usually gets a lot of submissions, but the quality of photos we received this year was spectacular.
Twelve submissions won the contest and will be on display in our desktop calendar. The winning photos shown below were shot in familiar locations like Sandy Hook, Cape May, Seaside Heights, and many more. The 2024 desktop calendar with these dazzling nature photos will be available on njseagrant.org in a few months. But in the meantime, view the winners below (in no particular order). Congratulations to all of the winners!
Untitled, Melissa Laurino
The Seagull Lifeguard Takes a Stand, Richard Pasquarella
Common Tern Adults and One Hungry Chick, Scott M. Miller
Are you a K-6th grade teacher or non-formal educator interested in increasing your knowledge base on climate change? Join New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium this summer for a FREE workshop to learn more about climate science and effective ways to teach climate change to even the youngest of children. Learn with us as we utilize New Jersey’s coastal ecosystems and help you adapt classroom-ready activities to fit your needs in this FREE one-day workshop at New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium’s headquarters in Gateway National Recreation Area on Sandy Hook.
Discover ways to effectively communicate the science of climate change and its impacts, all while empowering and giving hope to elementary school students. Enhance your curriculum with new activities and learn how to frame discussions on this sometimes difficult topic. Don’t fret over, but learn how to incorporate New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS) for Climate Change Education into lessons you may already be teaching. Earn continuing 6 education credits, too!
Learn to employ successful strategies to help students understand the complex subject of climate change, inspire their curiosity, and motivate them to work towards solutions for the climate-related environmental challenges that they may face in the future. All K-6th grade teachers and non-formal educators are welcome to participate in this workshop.
When: Thursday, August 10, 2023 from 9:00 a.m. — 3:00 p.m.
Where: New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium Headquarters 22 Magruder Road, Fort Hancock (Highlands), NJ 07732
This workshop is FREE to participants and includes lunch. Registration is required to attend.
As you may know NJSGC holds the Favorite Beaches Contest in New Jersey every year. Well, the public voted and the results are in! Congratulations to all shore towns. The winners are as follows:
Over the weekend, NJSGC held it’s annual Favorite Beaches Contest Ceremony in Ocean City, New Jersey. Mayor Jay A. Gillian of Ocean City and Mayor Leonard C. Desiderio of Sea Isle City received their respective awards for best and runner up for Overall and for Cape May County. Special thanks to Ocean City for hosting our awards ceremony on their Music Pier!
In addition, the NJSGC communications team went live on the famous radio station 94.3 the Point with Matt Ryan to announce the winners. They also met with give Sylvia Sylvia, Executive Director, Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce to give the award for the Best Beach in Monmouth County to City of Asbury Park.
Samantha Kreisler, Julie Lang, Tom Hayes, Sylvia Sylvia and Matt Ryan announce the winners live on the radio at the historic Asbury Park Convention Hall.
Samantha at the Ocean City Music Pier.
Mayor Jay A. Gillian of Ocean City and Mayor Leonard C. Desiderio of Sea Isle City received their respective awards for best and runner up for Overall and for Cape May County.
Julie Lang and “Martin Z. Mollusk,” who is the mascot of Ocean City.
Dr. Pete Rowe and Samantha Kreisler announce the winners of the Favorite Beaches Contest.
The submissions have been collected and it is now time to decide the top photos to win the Jersey Shore Photo Contest. The winners will be featured in the NJSGC’s 2024 Desktop Calendar.
NJSGC Education Specialist Mindy Voss appeared on News 12 NJ, to remind all beachgoers about the greater importance of ocean safety and rip current awareness.
Mindy Voss appeared on News 12 NJ to talk about Rip Current Awareness and Safety. Click the picture or visit https://fb.watch/lbani1JTGh/ to watch the full video.
Moving faster than an Olympic swimmer, rip currents can transport bathers away from the shore in a matter of seconds. Panic and lack of safe swimming skills is what causes more than 100 people to perish from rip currents in the U.S. each year. Help keep your community safe by reserving an Ocean Hazards and Beach Safety: Sharks vs. Rip Currents program. This hour-long program can take place at your school/center or virtually anywhere via Zoom or Google Meets. For more information contact Mindy Voss, Education Specialist at [email protected] or 732-872-1300, extension 30.
It’s finally time to cast your vote for New Jersey’s favorite beach! The fate of our beaches is in your hands. Choose your favorite local “hotspots” from a list of amazing beaches throughout the Jersey Shore’s four coastal counties – Atlantic, Cape May, Monmouth, and Ocean. New Jersey Sea Grant (NJSGC) will announce the winners around the July Fourth holiday.
Debuting in 2008 as New Jersey’s “Top Ten Beaches,” the survey was initially designed to encourage friendly competition and camaraderie amongst popular Jersey Shore communities along the coast. Following Hurricane Sandy, the contest was rebranded “Favorite Beaches” to diversify results so that ALL areas of the Garden State’s gorgeous oceanfront are recognized, inspiring a refreshing sense of unity and support.
Be sure to share NJSGC’s highly-anticipated “Favorite Beaches” poll with family and friends, and stay tuned for the official results later this summer. Send them this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/favoritebeach2023
Connect with New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter for more updates. Thank you for your continued support!
Spring is in the air and Summer is so close you can practically taste it. While It’s obvious that the locals and tourists of New Jersey are ready for this summer, the question remains: Are our beaches? Well, according to our State of the Shore Report they most certainly are! Our beaches are in good condition after a few relatively mild winters in a row. Not to mention that New Jersey has taken steps to improve resilience, including developing a statewide coastal resilience strategy, creating buyout programs and elevation solutions, and embracing living shorelines and other natural infrastructure.
In terms of coastal flooding, erosion, and wave activity, this winter was relatively uneventful. However, two large storms made quite the splashes in our home state. Although no longer a Category 5 by the time it reached New Jersey, Hurricane Ian not only caused billions of dollars in damages, but also created some of the largest impacts of the season. During a storm in a Spring tide in December, water levels measured by the tide gauge at Sandy Hook reached their highest since Hurricane Sandy.
The summer forecast is a bit more complicated and comes with a high level of uncertainly based on developing El Niño conditions and unusually warm surface water in the Atlantic Basin, which can both increase the likelihood of formation and the intensity of hurricanes. We will have to wait and see how the Spring and Summer season progresses, so please remember to be safe and prepared when it comes to the coast. Read more in this year’s State of the Shore Report.
Dr. Jon Miller gets interviewed by NBC News
From right to left: Dr. Tom Herrington, Dr. Peter Rowe, Shawn LaTourette, and Dr. Jon Miller.
Media at the State of the Shore
NJSGC invites media and tourism representatives to learn more about the ever-changing conditions of our shoreline from our group of local scientists and environmental managers. Like past years we hosted the State of the Shore press event at Tim McLoone’s Supper Club located on the iconic Asbury Park boardwalk, with guest speakers including NJSGC Coastal Processes Specialist Dr. Jon Miller, NJDEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette, and Coastal Community Resilience Specialist, Dr. Tom Herrington.