Saving Seafood

Urban Coast Institute to Research Sediment Contamination in New York Harbor Channels

May 23, 2017 — The following was released by Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute:

The Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute (UCI) has received a $4 million grant from the New Jersey Department of Transportation to work with the Hudson River Foundation and other partners to study sediment contamination levels in New York/New Jersey Harbor.

The research will focus on navigation channels that are periodically dredged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to ensure they’re deep enough for container ships, tankers and other large vessels traveling to and from the Port of New York and New Jersey. Ultimately, the three-year project will help determine whether dredged materials in these areas are clean enough to deposit at sea, or when they will be in light of remediation efforts. Arrangements must be made to move sediments that do not meet ocean disposal standards to suitable sites on land. 

The project builds upon the work of a 2002 Contamination Assessment and Reduction Project (CARP) that modeled the rates in which remediation efforts and natural processes would improve the quality of sediments in these areas. This latest project, known as CARP II, would revisit the accuracy of the models based on new and recent sampling and consider how unforeseen factors such as Hurricanes Sandy and Irene may have impacted contamination levels. CARP II will produce new 15- and 25-year projections based on the findings.

“This project will provide the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other harbor stakeholders the scientific information they need to plan future dredge projects in a manner that fully considers the health of marine environments,” said UCI Director Tony MacDonald, the project’s administrator. “With the Panama Canal expansion complete and the Bayonne Bridge being raised, New York and New Jersey can expect to see far larger vessels at their marine terminals. The maintenance of our navigation channels will be more important than ever to safely accommodate these megaships and ensure our ports remain economically competitive.”

The UCI and the Hudson River Foundation will serve as co-principal investigators on the project. The team will also include researchers from Manhattan College, Rutgers University, the University of Rhode Island and two private consultants, Simon Litten and HDR, Inc.

“This new research project provides a unique opportunity to develop scientifically valid management tools, including the possibility of a new screening technique to drastically reduce the costs of determining the level of contamination in sediments slated to be dredged,” said Hudson River Foundation Science Director Dennis Suszkowski.

UCI Marine Scientist Jim Nickels will lead the field sampling activities. Monmouth University student researchers will participate in these efforts under Nickels’ guidance.

“Through CARP II, students will have excellent opportunities to conduct scientific research outside of the classroom,” Nickels said. “Their work will help gauge the health of some of the busiest marine corridors in the country.”

Sampling is expected to take place at points in the Arthur Kill, East River, Flushing Bay, Hackensack River, Hudson River, Lower and Upper New York Bay, Newark Bay, Passaic River, Raritan Bay, Raritan River, Red Hook Channel and Sandy Hook Bay.

What Makes Healthy Reefs ‘Smell’ Good to Fish?

March 21, 2017 —  The following was released by the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute:

What makes fish feel at home around healthy coral reefs and avoid degraded ones? Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute (UCI) Director Tony MacDonald has joined a research team dedicated to understanding the chemical cues that influence how fishes, corals and other organisms select a reef habitat.

The project is being led by the University of Delaware’s Danielle Dixson with the support of a $1 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Additional collaborators include Valerie Paul, a natural products chemist and lead scientist at the Smithsonian Marine Station and director of the Carrie Bow Cay field station in Belize; and Jay Odell, Mid-Atlantic marine program director at The Nature Conservancy in Virginia. 

Previous research by Dixson demonstrated that fish can tell the difference between healthy and degraded reefs, and that degraded reefs produce a chemical cue that repels fishes and corals.

The researchers will conduct surveys during high recruitment periods at the Smithsonian Institution’s Carrie Bow Cay research station in Belize and record the composition of the benthic communities (coral, algae, sand), as well as what fish and other reef creatures — and their predators — recruit to these communities. The data will provide a picture of what is different on high recruitment reefs and low recruitment reefs. Armed with this information, the researchers will perform chemical tests to determine the source of positive or negative cues.

MacDonald and Odell will focus on how the chemical cues data could potentially be incorporated in digital mapping tools that will help inform reef conservation management decisions and ocean planning. They will work with the researchers to determine how their work may be transferred to other regions, particularly in the Mid-Atlantic region. The UCI is currently leading the development of the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal (portal.midatlanticocean.org), a free, state-of-the-art mapping and information site focused on ocean areas from New York through Virginia. Odell serves as the technical lead on the Portal project, and was recognized by the UCI with a Regional Champion of the Ocean award in 2015.

“This is an exciting opportunity to work with a team of innovative scientists on research that could impact coral preservation around the world,” MacDonald said. “The data gathered through this project will be used to develop more effective marine management and ocean planning strategies.”

Research at the Carrie Bow Cay facility will take place beginning this summer. The project is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2019.

Symposium to Explore America’s Ocean Future: Recommendations for the Trump Administration and Congress

November 30, 2016 — The following was released by the Urban Coast Institute:

WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. — The Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute (UCI) invites the public to join us for a symposium and policy discussion which never took place during the election — coastal and ocean priorities for the next administration and Congress.

The 12th Annual Future of the Ocean Symposium will be held on Dec. 7 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Wilson Hall Auditorium. Admission is free and open to the public.

The panelists, former New Jersey Gov. and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science President Dr. Donald Boesch, will offer their views and recommendations on critical actions that the administration and Congress should take to ensure that our coasts and oceans are healthy, productive and support sustainable economic development.

Among their many other accomplishments and qualifications, Whitman and Boesch serve on the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative (JOCI) Leadership Council, a national organization dedicated to marine policy reform. JOCI soon plans to release a nine-point action plan for the Trump administration and the new Congress. UCI Ocean Policy Fellow and Monmouth University President Emeritus Paul G. Gaffney II also serves as a member of the JOCI Leadership Council.

“The oceans are going through unprecedented changes, including sea level rise, shifting currents and weather patterns, ocean acidification, and ecosystem destruction,” Whitman said. “These changes are a mounting threat not only to marine ecosystems, but to coastal communities and economies. We must confront these issues with a bipartisan approach from policymakers in Washington and at all levels of government.”

“Robust federal investments in science and research can spur innovation, address important national and global challenges, create new economic sectors, and ultimately save lives,” Boesch said. “If our ecosystems and livelihoods are to be sustained for the future, we’ll need to pair such financial commitments to research with concerted action on policies based in science.”

“The Future of the Ocean Symposium provides a unique forum for students, faculty and the public to engage nationally recognized experts in discussions on the pressing ocean issues of our time,” said UCI Director Tony MacDonald, who will moderate the panel. “As a coastal university, we are also pleased to honor a group of Ocean Champions whose work has so directly impacted lives here on the Jersey Shore and beyond.”

Immediately following the symposium, the UCI will hold its Champion of the Ocean Awards Luncheon from noon to 1:30 p.m. Tickets are required for the luncheon. The cost is $150, with proceeds to benefit student research and UCI programs.

Whitman will be honored as a National Champion of the Ocean for her work as a leading voice for the oceans as governor and with the EPA, JOCI and Pew Oceans Commission. Boesch will be recognized as a Regional Champion of the Ocean for his work advancing knowledge about marine environments, including his work as a member of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.

In addition, two New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) officials will receive State, Coastal and Ocean Leadership Awards for their roles in restoring New Jersey’s beaches, supporting innovative major Rebuild by Design projects, and improving coastal planning and communities’ resilience to coastal storms after Superstorm Sandy. The honorees are NJDEP Assistant Commission of Engineering and Construction David Rosenblatt and NJDEP Assistant Director of Coastal and Land Use Planning Elizabeth Semple.