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.CTSG assistant extension educators Mike Gilman, left, and Zach Gordon, center, talk with UConn Avery Point student Cameron Salas about shell recycling and different types of shellfish in Long Island Sound at the EcoHusky Earth Day fair April 21 in the Avery Point library.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 2025 Foundations of Shellfish Farming course taught by Michael Gilman, far right, CT Sea Grant assistant extension educator, met for their last of 12 classes on April 1.Maggie Favretti of the Alliance for the Mystic River Watershed, left, Kelly Kerrigan of the town of Stratford, center, and Jessica Canizares of The Nature Conservancy, answer questions about their grant funding successes during a Sustainable & Resilient Communities Program funding workshop in New Haven on March 31 attended by about 45 people.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.James Flynn, left, and Jake Dittes dissect an oyster in the CTSG "Foundations of Shellfish Farming" class.Scientists will be studying salt marshes, declining flounder species, water quality and many other topics with the largest investment in Long Island Sound research.Sustainable & Resilient Communities team from NY and CT gathers in Rye, NY, with NY & CT Sea Grant and EPA officials to announce awards to 15 LIS communities and new round of resilience funding.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.A HUGE THANK YOU to the 23 volunteers who picked up 30 pounds of trash at Ocean Beach Park in New London on International Coastal Cleanup Day Sept. 21! A special nod to Elia Gerena, 2nd from left, who recruited his friends and family to help out as part of his Bar Mitzvah project! What a great finale to the 2024 #DontTrashLISound campaign!!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.The Moriello family of Bethany joined 25 other volunteers who collected 64 pounds of trash at Hammonassett Beach State Park to kick off the 2024 #DontTrashLISound campaign on Aug. 17.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.UConn Professor Beth Lawrence, right, talks to a member of her research team while other team members collect gas samples and record data for a CTSG-funded project at Great Meadows Marsh in Stratford on Aug. 12Henry Choong, one of 20 researchers who took part in a CTSG-funded Rapid Assessment Survey of invasive species in Long Island Sound Aug. 6-7, looks at two invasive hydroids he found in a Branford marina.Hannah Roby, a oceanography master's degree student, dissects a black sea bass on July 26 for CTSG-funded research into the diets of black sea bass becoming prevalent in Long Island Sound with rising water temperatures.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.Pianist Hea Youn Chung, left, and Molly James, a UConn marine sciences doctoral candidate, led a performance and discussion of their "Harmony of Nature II" project on March 27. Their project received a CT Sea Grant Arts Suppport Award.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.Michael Thomas of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe and Alissa Dragan, supervising environmental analyst at the state Department of Agriculture Bureau of Aquaculture, discuss ways to improve access to shellfishing grounds for his and other tribes in Connecticut after his talk at the Annual Gathering of Shellfish Commissions on Feb. 3.Volunteer Bobbi Brown, left, shows Anthony Leggitt, 5, how to cast a fishing rod during the CT Sea Grant-Groundwork Bridgeport "Let's Go Fishing" event Aug. 19 on Knowlton Park on the Pequonnock River.Fishermen in immersion suits practice getting into a life raft during Safety and Survival training in October 2022.
Alexa Madria of Brooklyn, New York, was one of five book club members who volunteered at the cleanup.

406 pounds of trash uplifted along with volunteers’ spirits

August 18, 2025

For Amanda Kostalis of Wallingford, spending a Saturday morning extracting plastic cups, food wrappers and other garbage from the rocks along the New Haven shoreline is a kind of public service therapy. “I try to volunteer as much as I can,” she said. “It helps to combat those feelings of hopelessness.”

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Beachgoers enjoy Eastern Point Beach in Groton on Long Island Sound on a summer day.

Survey shows most view LIS positively, but lack awareness

August 12, 2025

A survey of more than 3,700 CT and NY residents shows the majority view Long Island Sound as a major asset to the region’s quality of life and economy. The survey by CT Sea Grant on behalf of the Long Island Sound Partnership was conducted in 2024, 18 years after the first public perceptions survey.

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Flier for Aug. 16, 2025 Long Island Sound Celebration free event at UConn Avery Point with list of activities and sponsors.

Celebrate 40 years of Sound conservation at free family event

July 23, 2025

The Long Island Sound Partnership, along with partner organizations Connecticut Sea Grant, Project Oceanology, the Connecticut National Estuarine Research Reserve and others, invite the public to a family-friendly free event on Aug. 16 to celebrate 40 years of LIS conservation.

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Cover of Fall-Winter 2024-2025 issue of Wrack Lines magazine with photos of six youth writers

Wrack Lines fall-winter issue receives 2nd national award

July 20, 2025

The Fall-Winter 2024-2025 issue of Wrack Lines has received an Award of Excellence in the 2025 APEX Awards for Publication Excellence contest. Announced in July, the award comes three months after the issue was selected for a Silver Award winner in the 2025 ACE Critique and Awards Program.

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LIS is muse for exhibit, musical work by CTSG-supported artists

July 16, 2025

Long Island Sound-inspired music, videos, sculptures, paintings and multi-genre visual art by more than a dozen artists will be showcased through the 2025 CT Sea Grant Arts Support Awards. The 18 artists are part of two projects chosen for the Arts Support Awards, a program offered annually since 2009.

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Sunset over Long Island Sound at the mouth of the Thames River overlooking Ledge Light.

Long Island Sound Blue Plan Update: feedback requested

July 9, 2025

Input is being sought on a survey on the Long Island Sound Blue Plan and Resource and Use Inventory. Even those who are not familiar with the plan and inventory are encouraged to complete the survey to help improve the Blue Plan and the data and information contained in the Inventory.

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EPA Region 2 Regional Administrator Michael Martucci at the CCMP signing event at the Jay Heritage Center in Rye, N.Y., for the Long Island Sound Partnership.

EPA, state partners celebrate 40 years of action for LIS

June 23, 2025

Senior officials from the EPA, CT and NY, along with many partners, met on June 20 to celebrate 40 years of progress in restoring and protecting the Long Island Sound and announced a new plan that sets a 10-year roadmap to revitalize the Sound as an ecological, economic and recreational resource.

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Cover of Spring-Summer 2025 issue of Wrack Lines magazine showing diver with a ribbon of sugar kelp.