A fisherman walks through the watercraft inspection with a NYSG Launch Steward pointing out key areas to look for aquatic hitchhikers. Credit: Brittney Rogers.

— By Steve Penstone, Finger Lakes Daily News

Geneva, NY, January 10, 2019 - New York Sea Grant will hold its 2019 Watercraft Inspection Program Leader educational webinar series beginning on January 17. The four webinars will address issues associated with recreational boating as a key pathway in the spread of aquatic invasive species.

Mary Austerman, the Community Development Specialist with New York Sea Grant and author of the New York State Watercraft Inspection Steward Program Handbook, said on Thursday’s Finger Lakes Morning News watercraft inspection is a critical contributor to limiting the spread of AIS among the more than 7,000 lakes, ponds, and rivers in New York State and elsewhere.


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The webinars will be held from 10:00 am to 11:00 am on four consecutive Thursdays.  They are free but registration is required.

More information is available at the NY Sea Grant website or by calling 315-331-8415.


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 33 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University in Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly. Our program also produces an occasional e-newsletter,"NOAA Sea Grant's Social Media Review," via its blog, www.nyseagrant.org/blog.