Sea Grant

NOAA’s Milford lab provides key ingredient for shellfish farms

“The Milford lab,” as it is known in the shellfish industry, is a main supplier of algae to shellfish farmers along the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts – and even worldwide. NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center has supplied algae free of charge to shellfish farms for more than five decades, drawing from collection of 230 strains, among them those that are most important for young oysters and clams.

Public hears of LIS Blue Plan impacts on new, current users

Commercial clammer Rosemary Louden asked how the Long Island Sound Blue Plan would impact the business that’s been in her husband Jay’s family for the past 100 years. At the May 14 public meeting on the plan, she learned that the historic Louden commercial shellfish beds in Greenwich are considered “significant human use areas” that would gain protection from any proposals that would impact them.

Students savored opportunity of ocean sciences contest

Learning marine biology, physics, chemistry and other sciences may have started in the classroom for these teenagers, but their recent opportunities to showcase what they know in a regional then a national competition gave them a whole new level of enthusiasm for the world of oceanography.

Climate change challenges: mosquitoes, runoff & septic

For anyone who assumes mosquitoes are just a nuisance, Michael Pacucilla has a sobering message.The director of health for the East Shore District Health Department, he shared a personal story about the serious consequences that can result from a bite by one of these ubiquitous insects.

Long Island Sound Blue Plan debuts, feedback sought

Spring’s sunny beginning on March 20 drew dozens of beachgoers to Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison, making for an especially fitting backdrop for the public release of the Long Island Sound Blue Plan, a first-of-its-kind inventory and guide for the estuary shared by Connecticut and New York.