Some of the 35 students in the 2026 Foundations of Shellfish Farming class work on a group exercise to select a hypothetical site for an aquaculture farm, along with deciding on gear, location and other factors.Christy Mueller, Maddy Meadows-McDonnell and Mari Cullerton posed for a photo during the final week of their 2025 National Sea Grant College Program Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship.Members of municipal shellfish commissions listen to a presentation during the 2026 annual meeting of commissions on Jan. 24 in New Haven. About 60 people attended.About 25 people joined the First Day hike at Griswold Point in Old Lyme, hosted by CT Sea Grant and the CT National Estuarine Research Reserve.The staff of Connecticut Sea Grant on the porch of the Branford House at the UConn Avery Point campus.Larissa Graham of the CT National Estuarine Research Reserve, front, gives a presentation about the CTSG-supported CT MyCoast project to the New London Rotary Club on Dec. 4.Students in the CTSG-supported UConn Climate Corps Class present a resilience project addressing flooding and other impacts on a community.Soundkeeper Bill Lucey, center, makes a point during a panel discussion with artists and experts for the Nov. 5 opening of the CTSG-supported "Sight and Sound: Artists Consider the Long Island Sound" exhibit at the Alexey von Schlippe Gallery through Dec. 7, as one of the artists examines a piece of plastic made from seaweed brought by Lucey.Participants, instructors and organizers of the Fishing Partnership Safety & Drill Trainings hosted by CT Sea Grant gather around a life raft at the end of the first of the two-day workshop Oct 27 & 28. At center in the life raft is Nancy Balcom, CTSG associate director.Connecticut College Arboretum Director Maggie Redfern, right, tells about 20 people on a CT Sea Grant-sponsored hike of Mamacoke Island Oct. 19 about how Indigenous people once used the area for fishing and other activities The hike was part of the Thames River Park's "Walk in the Park" series.Hannah King of New England Science and Sailing, left, follows instructions from Zach Gordon, CTSG assistant extension educator, center, for preparing kelp sorus tissue to release spores as part of a demonstration for teachers in the CTSG mobile seaweed lab.Participants in a Long Island Sound Mentor Teacher workshop at Hammonasset on Sept. 16 seine for minnows, jellyfish and other marine creatures.Mike Morazzini, teacher at Jonathan Law High School in Milford, holds up a jar of polluted water filtered through cotton, burlap and other materials during a stormwater exercise at the Long Island Sound Mentor Teacher workshop on marine pollution at Bluff Point State Park on Sept. 12.CTSG-supported photographer and videographer Tomas Koeck, left, talks to visitors at the Alexey von Schlippe Art Gallery during the opening of his exhibit of nature photos. His film "Flyway of Life" will be shown at UConn Avery Point on Oct. 1.Volunteers pried dozens of pounds of trash trapped in the rocks on the shoreline along Long Wharf Drive in New Haven during the 2025 #DontTrashLISound kickoff cleanup.Hannah Roby, a doctoral student at UConn Avery Point, throws an eel back in the water after seining in Mumford Cove in Groton for a CTSG-funded research project on flounder.Participants ply canoes and kayaks during in the paddle and nature exploration event at Bluff Point State Park on June 28 hosted by the CT NERR and CT Sea Grant.Fran Pijar of the Clean Up Sound and Harbors nonprofit shows Yaprak Onat of CIRCA an area in Stonington prone to flooding during a June 25 workshop for the pilot project launching the MyCoast app in Connecticut to track storm and tidal flooding. CT Sea Grant, the CT NERR and CIRCA are partnering in the project.Michael Julian, owner of Park City Seafood, transfers juvenile soft-shell clams from his upweller in the Pequonnock River in Bridgeport to CTSG Senior Extension Educator Tessa Getchis so she can measure them before he plants them in one of his leased areas farther east along the shoreline.EPA, CT and NY officials and other others flank the resolution they signed on June 20 supporting the new Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for Long Island Sound. CT Sea Grant is part of the Long Island Sound Partnership that created the plan.Devon Guerette of East Lyme, center, helps his sons Oliver, 2, and Bently, 4, make cotton ball piping plover chicks during the Family Fun day at Bluff Point State Park in Groton on June 8. More than 70 people attended the event, hosted by the CT NERR, CT Sea Grant and the Town of Groton.CTSG's SHUCKS aquaculture training program interns Brendon Goulette, left, and Danielle Calini met May 15 with Mike Bohan of the Guilford Shellfish Commission, which is helping fund the internship.Visitors to the Earth Day festival at the Groton Public Library on April 26 make bug houses at the CT Sea Grant table. The event featured more than 50 displays.CTSG joined members of New London Rotary and New London Trees in an Arbor Day tree-planting event at the Lighthouse Inn on April 25.Students at the Drop-In Learning Center in New London show the sea creature puppets they made with CTSG's Maggie Cozens and Judy Benson on April 15.Students in the "Life Between the Tides" activity examine a hermit crab model during the Long Island Sound Schools Network Symposium at The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk on March. 14.Scientists will be studying salt marshes, declining flounder species, water quality and many other topics with the largest investment in Long Island Sound research.Municipal officials and land trust representatives from CT and NY learn about a rain garden project in Hamden on Dec. 5 as part of the 2024 Annual Sustainable and Resilient Communities Workshop.Clayton McGoldrick, CTSG lab technician, holds a beaker of kelp sorus tissue that is releasing spores in the mobile seaweed lab at the UConn Avery Point campus.High School in the Community students, from left, Eden Torres, Isaiah Sosa and Dominic Moore met with Judy Benson, Wrack Lines editor, to receive copies of the magazine where their essays about nature and climate change appear.Researchers collect water samples at the Bride Brook marsh at Rocky Neck State Park as part of a CTSG-funded project.Teachers examine marine life through microscopes during the Long Island Sound Mentor Teacher workshop at Hammonasset Beach State Park on Sept. 14.Kayakers and rowers paddle from the shores of UConn Avery Point during the Messing About in Boats event for students, faculty and staff Sept. 13 sponsored by the CT NERR, CT Sea Grant, the John Gardner Chapter of the Traditional Small Craft Association and the campus.Researchers lower a probe into Beebe Cove in Groton at sunrise on Aug. 13 as part of a CTSG-funded project studying whether eelgrass and oysters can live symbiotically.Yale Professor Gaboury Benoit removes trash collected at a boom he placed on the Mill River in New Haven as part of CTSG-funded research into the plastic litter cycle.Dancers perform at the Sliver by the River celebration in Bridgeport in May, which included participation by CT Sea Grant Sustainable & Resilient Communities Extension Educator Deb Abibou.Waterford High School student Caydin Martinez, left, shows two of the approximately 370 Waterford elementary school students how to measure the depth of marsh sediment during Marine Science Day at Waterford Town Beach on June 3.Fisherman John Genther, center, received a Meritorious Service Award from the Coast Guard for saving a man's life less than two weeks after taking first aid training hosted by CTSG.
Pianist Hea Youn "Sophy" Chung performs one of the selections from the "Harmony of Nature" project at a 2024 concert at UConn Avery Point. Judy Benson / Connecticut Sea Grant

Article in Nature features CTSG-supported arts project

February 3, 2026

Article in the journal Nature, “Science Finds Its Song,” explores how scientists are using music to communicate to a broader audience. A recent Connecticut Sea Grant-supported project, “Harmony of Nature” is included in the article.

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Richard Harens described how he carries out his responsibilities as shellfish warden in Groton.

Gathering to learn and share what’s new in the shellfish world

February 2, 2026

Keeping Connecticut’s oyster and clam populations healthy and accessible for recreational and commercial harvest is no simple task. Just ask the approximately 60 volunteer overseers of shellfishing in their towns who attended the Jan. 24 Annual Gathering of Shellfish Commissions.

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Hikers gather around the sign at the Griswold Point preserve.

25 hikers start the New Year with Griswold Point hike

January 2, 2026

About 25 people joined the First Day hike at Griswold Point hosted by CT Sea Grant and the CT National Estuarine Research Reserve. Staff of CT Sea Grant and the Reserve led the approximately 2.5-mile round-trip hike along mostly flat shoreline to Griswold Point at the mouth of the Connecticut River.

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Cover of Fall-Winter 2025-2026 issue of Wrack Lines magazine