In early February 2007, New York Sea Grant received funding in the amount of $1.36 million from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to address a range of vital coastal issues with its lineup of 11 innovative research projects for 2007-2008. Another $790,000 will come through agency partners, municipalities and other sources.
Several research projects address shoreline protection, especially along Long Island’s south shore. With two funded projects, Stony Brook University’s Storm Surge team will tackle wave and flood forecasting by developing models to be used by the Weather Service and emergency services to improve flood prediction and reduce the risk of storm impacts. A third project at Cornell University will look at breakwater safety and engineering.
Four new projects will concentrate on maintaining healthy fisheries. Researchers at Stony Brook’s Marine Pathology Lab (a facility developed during the investigation of the LI Sound lobster die-off) will look into QPX disease in hard clams, a pathogen putting one of Long Island’s historically important fisheries at risk. Another project at NYU Medical Center will use genetic techniques to examine stock and management of another commercially important fishery, winter flounder. At Cornell, a research team of world-class fish pathologists will look for the cause and mitigation of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) in fresh water fish, a disease that can threaten the sustainability of New York’s fresh water fisheries, especially in NY’s Great Lakes region. Also at Cornell, researchers will look at the economic impacts of sportfishing in our Great Lakes.
New ways of managing coastal resources in the 21st century will be the task of a team at the University of Buffalo who will look at Great Lakes Resource Shed Delineation. Other researchers at SUNY College at Buffalo will examine the impacts of the invasive round goby which has become part of the food web in Great Lakes tributary streams.
The Hudson Valley, the link between NY’s Great Lakes and ocean shores is the recipient of two research awards. A Stony Brook researcher will develop particle transport models that will help agencies involved in dredging and sediment clean up of the upper Hudson River. And a team from SUNY ESF will look at sustainable tourism in the Hudson Valley, one of the nation’s fastest growing exurbs.
New York Sea Grant, with administrative offices at the Marine Sciences Research Center at Stony Brook University, delivers science that helps communities make wise decisions about our precious coastal resources. New York Sea Grant is a partnership between the State University of New York, Cornell and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. For more information, contact NYSG Communications, Barbara.Branca@stonybrook.edu.
