New York Sea Grant's 2022 Success Stories

NY’s Coastal Bluffs: Informing Stakeholders about Erosion, Recession

NYSG works with research partners to ensure information about coastal bluff erosion and recession is reaching stakeholders most impacted by these processes. ( PDF )

NYS Aquaculture Report Updated

NYSG’s updating of the New York Aquaculture Industry status report supports New York’s opportunity to become an industry leader. ( PDF )

Guide to Seaweed Processing & Marketing: Supports NY’s Emerging Industry

NYSG helps coastal producers adapt to changing environmental, social and political climates through updated practices and novel technologies and products. ( PDF )

6th Annual Seafood Summit: NYSG Hosts

NYSG fosters growth and resilience in NY’s seafood industry through active and positive engagement among the industry’s diverse sectors statewide. ( PDF )

Plastic Pollution and You: An Interdisciplinary Curriculum

NYSG-developed curricula focus teacher and student attention on today’s pressing environmental issues, including plastic pollution and marine debris. ( PDF )

Long Island Sound Marine Debris Plan Completed

NYSG in partnership with CT Sea Grant identified and prioritized goals, objectives, strategies, and actions and completed an Action Plan to reduce marine debris in their shared coastal region of Long Island Sound. ( PDF )

LIS Sustainable & Resilient Communities: 1st Annual Workshop

NYSG Sustainable and Resilient Communities Extension Professionals have created a new foundation for focusing shared interest in building the resilience of Long Island Sound communities. ( PDF )

LIS Sustainable & Resilient Communities: Regional Needs Assessment

NYSG Sustainable and Resilient Communities Extension Professionals facilitated a needs assessment to understand climate-related environmental challenges and barriers to action in Long Island Sound communities. ( PDF )

Community Science LI: Educational Webinars

NYSG’s successful Community Science LI webinar series of 2021 continued in 2022, connecting the public with the local environment through participatory science. ( PDF )

Long Island Sound Mentor Teacher Program Returns

The Long Island Sound (LIS) Mentor Teacher program supported by NYSG and the LIS Study estuary program connects educators with local resources. ( PDF )

NY’s Hard Clams: Progress to Improve Resiliency

NYSG partnership is helping hard clam growers who operate under harsh environmental conditions. ( PDF )

Offshore Wind: NYSG Public Participation Guide Helps Communities Engage

NYSG’s public participation guide helps reduce barriers to public participation in the offshore wind energy development process. ( PDF )

Marine Camp: NYSG Resumes Classes After COVID Hiatus

NYSG Marine Camp partnership creates an interactive learning environment for students from underserved and underrepresented communities. ( PDF )

Sea Level Rise: Adapted Curriculum Helps NYC Students Explore the Past and Future

NYSG provided scientific expertise to update and enhance a climate-focused curriculum to help NYC area students envision and plan for climate resilience. ( PDF )

Community Engaged Internship Comes to the Bronx

NYSG participation in National Sea Grant’s Community Engaged Internships program provides professional development to undergraduate students from underrepresented and Indigenous communities as well as benefitting local communities. ( PDF )

Flushing Climate Meeting: Preparing Communities for Future Flooding

NYSG and partners’ outreach to local communities includes access to science-based expertise and resources to better address potentially deadly climate-related challenges. ( PDF )

NY Shoreline Site Visits

NYSG provides New York’s freshwater and marine shoreline stakeholders with expertise on natural and nature-based shoreline management methods. ( PDF )

Working with Nature: 2022 Workshops

NYSG provides New York’s freshwater and marine shoreline stakeholders with expertise on natural and nature-based shoreline management methods. ( PDF )

Lake Ontario Shoreline Resident Information Folders for Wayne County

NYSG-developed resource folders empower waterfront property owners with tools and information for shoreline management and hazards preparedness. ( PDF )

Understanding & Managing Floodplains for Healthy Watersheds and Resilient Communities

NYSG’s healthy floodplains workshops empower localized watershed decision makers to reduce risks and improve water quality. ( PDF )

Assessing Climate-Driven Migration in the Great Lakes

NYSG is part of a national research collaboration consortium focused on climate-induced human migration. ( PDF )

Climate Stewards: Training Extension Educators to Establish Local Climate Programming

NYSG’s Climate Stewards program is providing science-based training to equip volunteers to organize climate mitgation and resilience projects in New York. ( PDF )

A “Day in the Life” Student Experience Debuts in Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Watershed

NYSG, in partnership with NYS DEC, engaged middle schools with “A Day in the Life” experiential learning focused on the Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River watershed. ( PDF )

Great Lakes Coastal Resilience & Climate Change Curriculum Workshop

NYSG professional development training for teachers is increasing their awareness, knowledge, and capacity to teach on Great Lakes topics, including climate change. ( PDF )

Great Lakes Basin Small Grants Projects Engage Youth

NYSG, in partnership with NYS DEC, administers New York’s Great Lakes Basin Small Grants Program to benefit diverse coastal stakeholders, including youth. ( PDF )

Support for Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary Designation

NYSG is collaborating with NOAA and diverse local partners to support designation of a Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary. ( PDF )

2022 NY Statewide Celebration of Sturgeon

NYSG and DEC, alongside many partners, coordinated a seven-event series to celebrate the continuing recovery of three of New York’s unique sturgeon species. ( PDF )

2022 Great Lakes Aquaculture Days

NYSG is engaging stakeholders with educational and experiential learning opportunities through its participation in the Great Lakes Aquaculture Collaborative. ( PDF )

Research: HABs in New York’s Coastal Zones

Sugar kelp, a brown rubbery plant that can grow underwater fronds 15 feet long, have been shown to help control a variety of HABs. Under examination in this study was the link between Harmful Algal Blooms and macroalgae aquaculture. Researchers assessed the ability of cultivable macroalgae species to inhibit the growth of HAB species common to NY waters. A result: development of seaweed cultivation best practices and guidance materials. ( PDF )

Research: Impacts of Microplastic Pollution

Being explored was the knowledge gap between plastic debris quantity and quality in the Great Lakes to effectively inform policy, mitigation, management strategies, and the design of targeted research. A result: Ecosystem impacts of microplastics in nearshore Lake Ontario are caused by a complex interaction of polymer type, biofilm formation, site characteristics, particle transport, and interactions with organisms. ( PDF )

Research: Enhancing Flood Resilience on Lake Ontario

The research team has finalized and validated an integrated modeling framework of Lake Ontario hydrology, water level management, and flood inundation that can be used to project future flood risk around the lake. A result: The development of a crosswalk tool between the CSC program and other federal and state flood resiliency programs that help streamline participation in multiple flood resiliency programs at once. ( PDF )

Research: Listeria Control Strategies for Smoked Seafood

While foodborne illness-causing Listeria monocytogenes (LM) typically contaminates food at low levels that are unlikely to cause human disease, it can grow to potentially disease-causing levels during refrigerated storage of many ready-to-eat foods, such as cold-smoked salmon (CSS). A result: Investigators studied seafood-relevant pre-growth conditions that may reduce nisin treatment efficacy against LM on CSS and explored potential approaches that can be used to increase nisin treatment efficacy under realistic conditions. ( PDF )

Research: Detecting AIS Via Environmental DNA Method

Aquatic invasive species (AIS) is an ongoing management issue for State environmental managers. A result: Investigators developed a cost-effective and potentially standardizable multiple-amplicon eDNA method to conduct early detection of multiple targeted species in a single assay. ( PDF )

Research: NY's Aquaculture Operations for Oysters

Oyster aquaculture represents a sustainable, environmentally-friendly industry that contributes to the economic growth of local coastal communities. Many factors affect success in general and oyster aquaculture remains a risky business. This is particularly true for the eastern oyster where disease pressure represents a main factor affecting success. ( PDF )

Research: Rip Current Awareness

This study provides invaluable insight into the behavioral responses when caught in a rip current and proved that virtual reality is a memorable and engaging way to convey hazard risk. ( PDF )

Research: Evaluating American Shad in a Changing Hudson River Ecosystem

The American shad is an important recreational and commercial fishery species in the Hudson River that has become severely depleted. In an effort to help restore the stock, a moratorium on shad fishing was established in 2010. Investigators are using the long-term historical data to help identify factors limiting recovery. Results are expected to inform policies and other regulatory measures to help rebuild the population and revitalize this important historic fishery. ( PDF )

Research: Stakeholder Perceptions of Oyster Ecosystem Services

Investigators are interviewing various community members to identify what they consider most valuable about oysters and the ecosystem services they provide. In addition, the team will allow people to clearly identify which services are important and give them tools that allow them to clearly show how those services help shape their daily lives. The project results will help identify areas of commonality and opportunities for collaboration and minimize areas of potential disagreement, for mutually beneficial management and restoration efforts. ( PDF )

Research: Diversifying New York’s Marine Aquaculture Industry

Investigators seek to establish Gracilaria tikvahiae as a summer seaweed product for NY marine aquaculturists. They aim to address many of the issues with seaweed aquaculture such as concerns about the general safety of, and contaminant levels within, seaweeds. Also, due to the enhanced use of coastal waters during warmer months, methods for growing seaweed in near-shore regions, and on land would be desirable. The research team plans to use the results from the project to assist the industry to improve its market resilience. ( PDF )

Research: Refuge Areas Could Protect Prized Fisheries in a Changing Climate

Under examination here were the stressors – conditions such as acidification, low dissolved oxygen, and large diurnal (day and night) variations in oxygen and acidity – that can negatively impact valuable shellfish such as hard clams, oysters, mussels, and bay scallops. ( PDF )

Research: Development of Stress-Resistant Bay Scallop Strains

The bay scallop fishery on Long Island faces challenges from both pathogens and climate change. Investigators are evaluating whether a better resistance to temperature stress (both in juveniles and adults) protects scallops from severe bay scallop coccidia (BSC) infections. It is expected that the results will facilitate the recovery of bay scallops in NY waters and will serve as a reference for establishing selective breeding programs across the region. ( PDF )