Feature stories (including any Web Extras) in this issue include:

• A Delicate Balance More>
  NYSG announces 14 new research projects for '09, valued at $3.64 million. These include a sportfishing study exploring strategies to help sustain Lake Ontario's coastal community economies; research on VHS, a fish disease affecting a number of key Great Lakes species; tracing Long Island Sound inputs of nitrogen via groundwater; forecasting ecosystem effects of the "bloody-red shrimp," a new Lake Ontario invasive; and the impact of alewives on their prey populations.
  
  
• These Scholars Follow the Fish More>
  Since 1971, New York Sea Grant has supported nearly 600 Scholars at a total cost of over $9 million. “It began my career in Great Lakes resources,” says NYSG’s Dave MacNeill of his Sea Grant Scholar days. “It made me realize this is what I want to do.”
  
  
• Return Unwanted Medicines Event a Success More>
  “At the end of the day,” according to Stony Brook University Hospital’s Director of Pharmacy Jeannene Strianse, “approximately 88,000 pills had been collected as well as nearly 4 liters of liquids and 8 kilograms of powder.” What happened to them?
  
  
• New Report Synthesizes Hard Clam Research More>
  NYSG's recently-released 43-page technical report summarizes the key results of five research projects funded through NYSG’s Hard Clam Research Initiative, which began in 1999.
  
  
• Seeking New Ways to Stimulate Sportfish More>
  The decline in the number of anglers in New York’s Lake Ontario region over the last decade-and-a-half has raised concerns. With the region’s economy based to a large extent on sportfishing, NYSG-funded investigators are exploring some marketing and management strategies that could help sustain the economies of coastal communities along Lake Ontario.
  
  
• Supporting Municipal Natural Resource Protection More>
  Municipal stormwater management and nonpoint source pollution control on Long Island are of vital importance to protecting estuarine resources. The NYSG Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials Program has responded to these issues since 2001, providing technical expertise and assistance concerning EPA Phase II Stormwater Program compliance to nearly 100 Long Island municipalities.
  
  
• Tracing Sound Inputs via Groundwater More>
  It’s well understood that too much nitrogen in the water is not healthy for aquatic life in Long Island Sound. But until now it’s been hard to estimate how much nitrogen has actually been coming from submarine groundwater discharge (SGD), particularly along the sandy sediments off LI’s north shore.
  
  
• Sound Science for Long Island Sound More>
  The Sea Grant programs of Connecticut and New York have awarded nearly $820,000 in Long Island Sound Study research grants to five projects that will look into some of the most serious threats to the ecological health of Long Island Sound (LIS), a water body designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as an Estuary of National Significance.
  
  
• Seafood Corner: Steamed Skate with Lemongrass, Ginger and Lime (pdf)
  The edible parts of a skate are the two “wings,” which have a sweet mild shellfish-like taste.