Photo: Susan Cushman, Ph.D., of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, is among the fisheries and angling researchers who will speak at the March 3, 2025 Freshwater Seafood Summit at Cornell AgriTech in Geneva, NY. Dr. Cushman’s expertise is in stream and fish ecology in New York’s Finger Lakes region. Credit: Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Focus was on Anglers, Baitfish Producers, Charter Captains, Aquaculture Industry

Contacts: 

Michael Ciaramella, Ph.D., New York Sea Grant Seafood Safety and Technology Specialist, E: mc2544@cornell.edu, P: (631) 824-4746

Kara Lynn Dunn, New York Sea Grant Great Lakes Publicist, P: 315-465-7578, E: karalynn@gisco.net 

Geneva, NY, March 3, 2025 - New York Sea Grant and the Finger Lakes Institute held a free freshwater-focused New York Seafood Summit this afternoon (1-4 pm) at Cornell University AgriTech in Geneva, New York for anglers fishing for food, baitfish producers, charter captains, and those rearing freshwater fish to stock the recreational fishery and as a food source.  



The agenda for the 2025 Seafood Summit in Geneva included:

• a freshwater fisheries and angling research panel with noted researchers, including Susan Cushman, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Practice in the Biology Department at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Faculty Liaison to the Finger Lakes Institute, Geneva, NY. Dr. Cushman’s expertise is in stream and fish ecology in New York’s Finger Lakes region. She is also a past president of both the New York Chapter and Northeastern Division of the American Fisheries Society;

• a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation update on its recreational angling and fisheries management activities;

• information on food safety and fish consumption and how the New York State Department of Health monitors contaminants to issue consumption advisories when needed;

• an industry spotlight featuring one of New York’s seafood businesses;

• a Seafood Summit resource fair with fish and seafood nutrition, safety, and sustainability information available from New York Sea Grant and the New York State Department of Health; and a seafood tasting. 


New York Sea Grant Great Lakes Fisheries and Ecosystem Health Specialist Stacy Furgal holds a lake trout – a popular food fish species for recreational anglers - just before its release back to the water as part of a fisheries research project. Credit: U.S. Geological Survey

New York Sea Grant Seafood Safety and Technology Specialist Michael Ciaramella, Ph.D., NYSG Aquaculture Specialist Barry Udelson, and NYSG Great Lakes Fisheries and Ecosystem Health Specialist Stacy Furgal organized this Freshwater Seafood Summit. It is the first of three statewide Seafood Summits developed by New York Sea Grant to foster active communication, collaboration, and productive relationships among the freshwater and marine fish and seafood industries.

More Info: New York Sea Grant

Established in 1966, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Sea Grant College Program promotes the informed stewardship of coastal resources in 34 joint federal/state university-based programs in every U.S. coastal state (marine and Great Lakes) and Puerto Rico. The Sea Grant model has also inspired similar projects in the Pacific region, Korea and Indonesia.

Since 1971, New York Sea Grant (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.

NYSG historically leverages on average a 3 to 6-fold return on each invested federal dollar, annually. We benefit from this, as these resources are invested in Sea Grant staff and their work in communities right here in New York.

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.

New York Sea Grant, one of the largest of the state Sea Grant programs, is a cooperative program of the State University of New York (SUNY) and Cornell University. The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Oswego, the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark, and in Watertown. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, in Queens, at Brooklyn College, with Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC, in Bronx, with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County in Kingston, and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County in Elmsford.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org, follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and YouTube). NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which it publishes 2-3 times a year.