New York Sea Grant Coastal Community Development Specialist Mary Penney is on the lookout for some college students to fill up 2014's Launch Steward Program. Last year's Launch Stewards included, (kneeling in front row, l-r), Brittney Rogers, Sophia Oliveira, Megan Pistolese, (middle row) Heather Dunham; (top row, l-r), Chief Steward Nick Spera, Ryan Thompson, and Clinton A. Whittaker, Jr. Photo: Dave White, NY Sea Grant


Contact:

Mary Penney, New York Sea Grant Coastal Community Development Specialist, SUNY Oswego, E: mp357@cornell.edu, P: 315-312-3042
 
Oswego, NY, March 17, 2014 - New York Sea Grant is looking to hire college and graduate students to serve as Launch Stewards at waterfront venues in Cayuga, Jefferson, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, and Wayne counties in 2014.
 
The student-stewards will provide watercraft inspection training and public outreach to boaters at select launch ramps along Lake Ontario between Henderson Harbor and Sodus Bay and on Oneida Lake.
 
Using a standardized protocol, the student-stewards demonstrate and teach boaters the nationally-recognized Clean, Drain, Dry principles of the Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers campaign as a part of a simple watercraft inspection that helps minimize and prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species (AIS).
 
“The Launch Stewards along Lake Ontario and on waters elsewhere in New York play a key role in educating the public about how they can help manage aquatic invasive species,” says Steward Program Manager Mary Penney, a Coastal Community Development Specialist with New York Sea Grant, Oswego, NY. “New York Sea Grant is working with other steward program leaders, the Cornell University Invasive Species Program, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to develop branding that makes the stewards easily identifiable by boaters and to standardize the protocol for safe, quick and simple inspections by stewards and by the boaters themselves after they leave the launch areas.”
 
The Launch Stewards also participate in educational outreach, collect boater usage and AIS data.
 
Former New York Sea Grant Launch Steward Stacy Furgal, now a U.S. Geological Survey Fisheries Technician, says the experience she gained as a waterfront steward with New York Sea Grant was invaluable training for working in the environmental field.
 
“As a New York Sea Grant steward, I was introduced to good data management practices and had the opportunity to build my collaboration and communication skills. I interacted with the public and was responsible for sharing accurate scientific information about the resource areas. I learned hands-on knowledge that I am using in my current invasive fish and zooplankton research job,” Furgal says.
 
Applications will be accepted until positions are filled and can be emailed to New York Sea Grant Mary Penney at mp357@cornell.edu. For more information, contact Penney at New York Sea Grant, SUNY Oswego, 315-312-3042.
 
The full PDF announcement of the New York Sea Grant Launch Steward opportunity with position description, dates, pay, and qualifications is online (click here).  
 

Steward Experience Helps Student Launch Fisheries Research Career: Former New York Sea Grant Waterfront Steward Stacy Furgal, left, is now a Fisheries Technician with the U.S. Geological Survey in Oswego, NY. She is seen with Ted Strang, chief engineer of the USGS Research Vessel Kaho, bottom trawling on Lake Ontario. Photo:USGS


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York, is one of 33 university-based programs under the National Sea Grant College Program (NSGCP) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NSGCP engages this network of the nation’s top universities in conducting scientific research, education, training and extension projects designed to foster science-based decisions about the use and conservation of our aquatic resources. Through its statewide network of integrated services, NYSG has been promoting coastal vitality, environmental sustainability, and citizen awareness about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources since 1971.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube links. NYSG also offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/coastlines for NY Coastlines, its flagship publication, which, in 2014, merges with the program's e-newsletter, Currents. NY Coastlines is published several times a year.