Connecticut Sea Grant hosted its third on-the-water workshop aboard Enviro-Lab III, Project Oceanology’s vessel, leaving from the docks at the UConn Avery Point campus on June 14.
Shellfish
Sea Grant marks 30th year with workshop in Thimble Islands
Connecticut Sea Grant continued the yearlong celebration of its 30th anniversary with an on-the-water workshop aboard the Volsunga IV in the Thimble Islands of Branford on June 7.
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.
Public radio podcast features CT Sea Grant’s Concepcion
Anoushka Concepcion, aquaculture extension specialist with Connecticut Sea Grant, is interviewed about kelp farming by WHYY public radio station Reporter Alan Yu for an episode of the podcast, “The Ocean and Us.”
Citizen scientists key to active recreational shellfish beds
The efforts of Don Murphy, Richard Conant and other citizen scientists — also called community scientists — on municipal shellfish commissions are being highlighted by Connecticut Sea Grant as part of a NOAA Sea Grant initiative.
Toxins to templates: it’s all in shellfish commissioners’ world
Clams and oysters might seem like simple creatures, not bothered with cell phones, income taxes or the meaning of life. But for the humans overseeing how these animals are harvested, the condition of the waters where they live and their opportunities for growth in Long Island Sound, the lives of these bivalves are a complicated affair.
2018 annual report highlights CTSG initiatives, outreach
Learn about Connecticut Sea Grant’s activities in seafood production and consumption, workforce development, hazard-resilient communities, ocean and coastal literacy and research, healthy coastal ecosystems and economy and research in the 2018 Annual Report summary.
Public weighs in on plan for southeastern CT estuary reserve
The wide diversity of habitats is a key feature of the area of the southeastern Connecticut shoreline designated to be part of what could become Connecticut’s only National Estuarine Research Reserve,
Restoration plan for shellfish beds is goal of new project
Town agencies, environmental professionals and groups interested in joining as partners in the project are encouraged to contact Tessa Getchis, aquaculture extension specialist at Connecticut Sea Grant. Work will begin this fall, with a report identifying potential restoration areas to be released in two years.