left to right: New York Sea Grant watercraft inspection program resources; watercraft inspection steward at Oswego, N.Y; New York Sea Grant-trained watercraft inspection steward talks with boater along Lake Ontario. Credit: New York Sea Grant.
Contact:
Kara Lynn Dunn, NYSG's Great Lakes Freelance Publicist, E: karalynn@gisco.net, P: 315-465-7578
Newark, NY, May 18, 2020 - New York Sea Grant has enhanced access and added resources to the redesigned New York State Invasive Species Clearinghouse website at http://nyis.info to support New York’s watercraft inspection steward programs as well as water enthusiasts including recreational boaters. The site is also now a mobile-friendly gateway to science-based information, publications, news, events, and tools for those engaged in managing terrestrial and aquatic invasive species (AIS).
New additions to the New York State Invasive Species Clearinghouse include links to:
• the 81-page, illustrated New York State Watercraft Inspection Steward Program Handbook, developed by New York Sea Grant Extension for managing or starting a community- or agency-based programs;
• a standardized steward training guide for program leaders;
• training templates & materials including checklists that can be used while conducting inspections, materials for hiring new stewards, data collection sheets, permission letters, an Aquatics Invasive Species (AIS) identification PowerPoint, and a quality control plan;
• information on Clean, Drain, Dry practices for use with boats of all types and recreational equipment, such as fishing gear and swim fins, to limit the spread of AIS that can damage aquatic environments, limit recreational use and impact local economics;
• four years’ worth of watercraft inspection informational webinars on such topics as climate change and AIS, using social psychology to increase program success, funding, and partnership building;
• three short instructional videos covering tips for initiating & exiting boater interviews, how to conduct a watercraft inspection, and dispelling common myths;
• information on the Watercraft Inspection Steward Program App developed to coordinate real-time AIS data collection at motorized and non-motorized boat launches across New York State for tracking and managing AIS.
This aquatic invasive species-related New York Sea Grant educational outreach programming was supported in part by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funds through New York State and the Finger Lakes-Lake Ontario Watershed Protection Alliance.
Watercraft inspection steward programs in New York State are community-based and agency-based, volunteer, and paid. New York Sea Grant has worked collaboratively with program leaders statewide to develop standardized program, training, and data-collection resources.
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 34 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.
