SUNY Oswego Assistant Professor Ellen Karboski, Ph.D., will highlight a collaboration with a local fish processor in support of fisheries’ research programs for students a part of the 2026 Upstate Seafood Summit on April 9th in Oswego, New York. She is seen here with a yellow perch collected from Chaumont Bay. Credit: Ellen Karboski
Freshwater anglers, aquaculture producers, processors, chefs, food safety, researchers to gather
Event Information:
Upstate New York Seafood Summit | Register
April 9, 2026, 1-4 pm
Oswego Public Library
120 E 2nd Street
Oswego NY 13126
Contacts:
• Michael Ciaramella, Ph.D., Seafood Safety and Technology Specialist, NYSG, E: mc2544@cornell.edu, P: 631-824-4746
• Stacy Furgal, Great Lakes Fisheries and Ecosystem Health Specialist, NYSG, E: slf85@cornell.edu, P: 315-312-3042
• Kara Lynn Dunn, Great Lakes Publicist, NYSG, E: karalynn@gisco.net, P: 315-465-7578
Oswego, NY, March 11,2026 - New York Sea Grant has announced the 2026 Upstate New York Seafood Summit will be held April 9, 2026 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Oswego Public Library, 120 East 2nd Street in Oswego, New York. The annual Seafood Summits are designed to encourage cross-sector collaboration by fishermen, aquaculture producers, retailers, processors, chefs, and other professionals. The Summit is free to attend.
Seafood Summits organizer Michael Ciaramella, Ph.D., a Seafood Safety and Technology Specialist with New York Sea Grant, said, “Seafood Summit topics respond to stakeholder needs and have ranged from production, marketing, packaging and food safety to fisheries sustainability, workforce development, and connecting with supply chain buyers and the culinary industry.”
The 2026 Seafood Summit agenda in Oswego is expected to have food safety, research, and industry update presentations by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, New York State Department of Health, and New York Sea Grant Aquaculture Specialist Barry Udelson.
The Oswego event will also include State University of New York (SUNY) at Oswego Assistant Professor Ellen Karboski, Ph.D., sharing highlights from the first year of a collaboration between SUNY Oswego and local fish processor Tom Allen to provide local Great Lakes species for students to gain experience with using fisheries research techniques. Dr. Karboski’s research focus is on Great Lakes-native fish ecology.
Chef Jeff Deloff of the French bistro Touche in Syracuse, New York, will offer a food industry professional’s view in a Culinary Connection segment of the program.
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ontario County Executive Director and nutritionist Moira Tidball will demonstrate how to make yellow perch shrimp cocktail, and talk about the wild fish preparation techniques, recipes, and nutrition information available through the WildHarvestTable.com resource she co-created.
The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, the Culinary Institute of America, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County, the Center for Aquatic Animal Research and Management, and Choose Local F.I.S.H. are among the partners of the 2026 Seafood Summit series.
For more information, contact Michael Ciaramella at mc2544@cornell.edu or 631-824-4746.
Since the first Seafood Summit downstate in 2016, New York Sea Grant has expanded the Summits into upstate’s freshwater regions. Networking and discussions at the events help guide New York Sea Grant programming to provide relevant research, education, and extension resources to the seafood industry. Learn more at linktr.ee/NYSGSeafoodLinks.
Yellow perch will be featured in a fish preparation demonstration at the April 9, 2026 Upstate Seafood Summit in Oswego, NY. Credit: Stacy Furgal/New York Sea Grant
More Info: New York’s Aquaculture Industry
New York’s aquaculture industry supports the recreational fishing and food industries with “farm-raised” fish and seafood production. New York Sea Grant conducted a survey of aquaculture operations of all sectors (private, non-profit, and governmental) within New York state to produce a New York Aquaculture Producer Survey with the geographic location, age of the operation, number of employees, species and quantities produced, and production and distribution methods of 70 entities, see nyseagrant.org/aquaculture.
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 5.5-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.