Group photo of volunteers who cleaned Rocky Neck State Park with bags of trashStudents launch kayaks from the UConn Avery Point campus during the "Messing About in Boats" event on Sept. 15.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.The CT Sea Grant-NOAA Milford Lab booth at the Milford Oyster Festival Aug. 19 drew dozens of visitors to play a shell matching game and see a touch tank with scallops and oysters.Lisanne Winslow of East Haven picks up a plastic bottle in the Long Wharf Nature Preserve in New Haven during the Aug. 12 cleanup kicking off the 2023 #DontTrashLISound campaign.The vessel L/B Jill, a construction vessel being used to support the South Fork Wind offshore wind farm off Long Island, is seen from Waterford Town Beach on July 30. The vessel was moored in Long Island Sound for a few days due to an incoming storm.Tessa Getchis and Mike Gilman represented CT Sea Grant at the Blessing of the Fleet in Stonington on July 30. Hundreds of people turned out for the annual event that included a Mass, parade, ceremony, food and music.A great blue heron looks over the waters of Long Island Sound just offshore from the UConn Avery Point campus, where CT Sea Grant is headquartered.Chris Menapace, director of education for Discovering Amistad, describes how shackles were used on the Amistad during a visit to the replica slave ship by CTSG staff as part of DEI learning activities. Associate Director Nancy Balcom, left, was joined by eight other staff members at the New London pier where the original ship was once docked.Members of the Avery Point EcoHusky Club, bottom right, make seed bombs for a fellow student at the campus Earth Day festival on April 19. Behind them CT Sea Grant staff share information about shell recycling.Research Coordinator Syma Ebbin, second from right, leads a tour of the Blue Heritage Trail and CT NERR sites as part of the Northeast Sea Grant Conference hosted by CT Sea Grant March 14-16. About 100 staff from NE Sea Grant programs participated.Michael Gilman, right, aquaculture extension assistant, teaches students in the "Foundations of Shellfish Farming" course that began on Jan. 24.Tessa Getchis, left, aquaculture extension specialist, introduces a presentation about shell recycling during the Annual Meeting of Shellfish Commissions on Jan. 21, 2023.UConn Avery Point EcoHusky Club members and Syma Ebbin, 3rd from left, faculty advisor and CTSG research coordinator, gather at a campus building with solar panels and a small wind turbine installed thanks to the club’s work.A truck drives through floodwaters on a street in Groton, as town crews clear debris left by high tide. Heavy rains Dec. 22 and 23 left several areas flooded along the CT coast, where rising sea levels and intensifying storms are increasing the need for CTSG resilience projects.Fishermen in immersion suits practice getting into a life raft during Safety and Survival training in October 2022.A large school of menhaden swim by the docks at the UConn Avery Point campus during their fall migration to the southeast Atlantic coast for the winter.Dr. Camille Gaynus, board chair of the professional organization Black in Marine Science, talks about marine science careers and the need for diversification and participation in these fields with students at the Sound School in New Haven last week as part of a project with the West River Watershed Partnership, Project WET, CT Sea Grant and CT DEEP.Far right, one of the 8 portable refrigeration units provided to small- to medium-sized oyster farmers this spring to enable them to directly sell their shellfish to customers at docks, farmers markets and festivals such as this one at Stonington Vineyards on Sept. 17.CT Sea Grant Director Sylvain De Guise was one of several speakers at an Aug. 8 event at Ash Creek in Fairfield announcing the Connecticut Shellfish Restoration Guide.The staff of Connecticut Sea Grant are based at the UConn Avery Point campus in Groton.Mark Phegley, left, QCW sign maker for UConn, directs student employees John Poland, center, and Braden Gutierrez in the positioning of a Connecticut Blue Heritage Trail sign at Bluff Point State Park on June 9. The trail is a project of CTSG, UConn and CT DEEP.David Carey, left, and Matt Bartel of the state Bureau of Aquaculturefill bags with oyster shell piled at Hammonassett Beach State Park that will be moved to oyster restoration areas in Branford and Bridgeport as part of a 2022 project with CT Sea Grant.UConn Marine Sciences Professor Hannes Baumann, left, and Connecticut Sea Grant Director Sylvain De Guise unveil a public outreach sign about endangered Atlantic sturgeon at Hammonassett Beach State Park on May 7.Graduates of the 2020 and 2021 Coastal Certificate program gather for a hike at Fenwick Grove in Old Saybrook on Oct. 23.CTSG Aquaculture Extension Specialist Tessa Getchis, left, Kristin DeRosia-Banick of the state Bureau of Aquaculture and Clinton Shellfish Commission Chairman Wayne Church examine an oyster bed in the Hammock River on June 15 as part of shellfish bed assessments along the shoreline this summer.Felicia Cooper, right, performs her original puppet show, "Ish" at UConn Avery Point on Earth Day April 22.Lindsey Kollmer, CT River River Estuary Aquatic Invasive Plant Steward, pulls invasive water chestnut from Selden CoveCrew members of Pot Luck, a vessel owned by Sam Fernandez of Sam's Seafood, sort clams from oysters as part of a restoration of natural shellfish beds near Bridgeport on June 10.Participants in the National Seaweed Symposium gather near one of the exhibits at the Seaweed Showcase on the second day of the event.New Britain YWCA summer campersStudents in the “Global One Health: U.S. and Irish Perspective” class at UConn see kelp harvested from J.P. Vellotti’s beds in Groton as part of a visit to the Noank Aquaculture Cooperative on May 16 organized by CT Sea Grant.Nissrine Essafi, a student in the Climate Corps class taught by CT Sea Grant's Juliana Barrett and Bruce Hyde, shows a map of Charleston, S.C., during a presentation of a project about sea level rise impacts.
Image of estuary at sunset

Funding announced for LIS community for estuary restoration

September 27, 2023

The Long Island Sound Community Impact Fund RFA is available and released on Sept. 27. The purpose of LISCIF is to provide technical and financial assistance to environmental justice communities to address environmental issues and improve the quality and accessibility of the LIS. 

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Seeded string is wound off a spool onto a line that will be suspended below the sea surface to grow kelp

Federal funds will enhance aquaculture education, kelp farming

August 28, 2023

Two federal grants totaling almost $600,000 will help launch two initiatives considered crucial to the long-term viability of the state’s aquaculture industry. The grants will fund a two-year project to assess aquaculture workforce development needs and a mobile lab to support the seaweed industry.

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Upcoming Events

  1. Sep 30 Reserve Celebration 8:30am
  2. Oct 14 Southeastern New England Marine Educators 12:00am
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