Contact:

Kathy Bunting-Howarth, New York Sea Grant's Associate Director, E: keb264@cornell.edu, P: 607-255-2832

Ithaca, NY, March 7, 2012 – New York Sea Grant Extension (NYSG) at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, has issued a series of impact statements for projects completed in 2011. The projects impacted diverse interest sectors including commercial fishermen, US Coast Guard search and rescue programs, the seafood industry, New York’s teachers and students, public and private coastal property managers, municipal leaders, and fisheries managers.
 
“These New York Sea Grant Impact Statements illustrate how our Extension specialists are addressing the diverse needs of coastal stakeholder groups in innovative and cost-effective ways. Sea Grant projects produce practical economic, environmental and educational impacts throughout New York’s freshwater and marine coastal communities,” said New York Sea Grant Associate Director and Assistant Director for Cornell Cooperative Extension Coastal Programs Dr. Katherine Bunting-Howarth.
 
Project work in New York’s Great Lakes region included:

• Educating the Next Generation of Concerned Citizens: In Buffalo, a “teach the teacher” approach prepared 207 teachers to engage more than 15,000 students in lessons on critical environmental issues, such as water quality and invasive species.
  
  
• Keeping Unwanted Medicines Out of the Great Lakes: NYSG engaged University of Buffalo students, anglers, and teachers in learning about the problems associated with improper disposal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products.
  
  
• Development of Oswego’s New Maritime Center: NYSG facilitated the consolidation of the H. Lee White Marine Museum, Oswego Maritime Alliance, Oswego Maritime Foundation, and the Port Authority of Oswego into the new H. Lee White Maritime Center at Oswego Harbor.
  
  
• A Groundbreaking International Trawl Design Workshop for Great Lakes Fisheries: The workshop that trained biologists and trawling vessel personnel from across the Great Lakes and Canada in techniques to obtain quality fisheries data for managing the $5 billion Great Lakes fisheries earned New York Sea Grant a U.S. Geologic Survey Great Lakes Science Center Certificate of Appreciation.
  
  
• Workforce Training to Aid Aquatic Invasive Species Education: NYSG created a workforce development training program to help educate future members of the environmental sector; two seasonal educators engaged more than 1,500 stakeholders, 13 K-12 educators, and nearly 170 K-12 students; inventoried public use properties and seven bodies of water covering ~46 linear miles; uploaded new data to the NYS iMapInvasives database; and helped restore four acres of the Salmon River in Oswego County against water chestnut.

Project work in New York’s marine district included:

• Award-Winning Safety-at-Sea Training: The 2011 NYSG Safety-At-Sea training program for commercial fishermen earned a U.S. Coast Guard Certificate of Appreciation and a Northeast Sea Grant Consortium Outstanding Outreach Achievement Award.
  
  
• Coastal Change Education In NYs Hudson River Estuary Region: NYSG provided more than 100 K-12 and community-based educators with training on how to use geospatial training to prompt stewardship in young people.
  
  
• NYSG Seafood Safety Training Programs: In 2011, more than 1,280 individuals from seafood companies and state or federal regulatory agencies participated in NYSG food safety training programs.
  
  
• Resolving Dredging Windows Issues: A matrix developed by New York Sea Grant is now helping the US Army Corps of Engineers and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation identify optimum dredging windows to maintain navigation routes for commercial shipping and recreational boating interests.
  
  
• Protecting & Restoring Long Island’s Water Resource: For more than 11 years, NYSG’s Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials Program (NEMO) has provided technical leadership that is helping multiple municipalities conserve financial resources, reduce the need to close shellfishing areas, and protect Peconic beaches, bays and harbors.
  
  
• Mentoring New York’s Teachers: NYSG brought the Long Island Sound Mentor Teacher Program to NY this year and held two professional peer development workshops which taught certified educators successful strategies for incorporating Long Island Sound concepts into existing curricula. This program was started by Connecticut Sea Grant and, to date, the Connecticut and New York Sea Grant Programs have extended these workshops more than 300 K-12 educators around the Sound.
  
  
• Helping Restore Gulf Coast Habitats: New York Sea Grant educators traveled to Louisiana in 2011 to help restore habitats damaged by the April 2010 oil spill.

The full series of 2011 New York Sea Grant impact statements is online (click here).
 
New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal vitality, environmental sustainability, and citizen awareness about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources, has been “Bringing Science to the Shore” for more than 40 years. NYSG, one of 32 university-based programs under the National Sea Grant College Program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is a cooperative program of the State University of New York and Cornell University. The National Sea Grant College Program 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.