A sampling of results and impacts from recently completed New York Sea Grant's extension and education initiatives.

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2011 Projects Impact New York’s Coastal Resources

Ithaca, NY, March 1, 2012 - New York Sea Grant has issued a series of impact statements for projects completed in 2011. Project awards and impacts, which were made possible by partnerships and collaborations with national, state, region, and local partners, include:

• U.S. Coast Guard Certificate of Appreciation
  
  
• Northeast Sea Grant Consortium Outstanding Outreach Achievement Award
  
  
• “Great new opportunities for the museum, the maritime district, and the city of Oswego” — Mercedes Niess, H. Lee White Maritime Center Executive Director
  
  
• 207 teachers who will engage 15,400 students in lessons on critical environmental issues such as water quality and invasive species
  
  
• Shoreline stakeholders, anglers and teachers now aware of the dangers of releasing PPCPs (pharmaceuticals and personal care products) into the environment
  
  
• More than 100 K-12 and community youth educators able to use geospatial training to inform sound stewardship
  
  
• More than 1,280 individuals from seafood companies and state or federal regulatory agencies trained in food safety
  
  
• A groundbreaking international initiative that will assure quality fisheries data for managing the $5 billion Great Lakes fisheries

Project work in New York’s Great Lakes district included:

• Educating the Next Generation of Concerned Citizens (pdf)
  By using a “teach the teacher” approach in 10 workshops in 2011, NYSG was able to educate 207 teachers who will engage 15,400 students in lessons on critical environmental issues such as water quality and invasive species.
  
  
• Keeping Unwanted Medicines Out of the Great Lakes (pdf)
  Each day through the improper disposal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products we add unwanted toxins to the finite system of freshwater that is the Great Lakes. In 2011, New York Sea Grant (NYSG) shared this important message with stakeholders to help them learn what they can do to reduce this troubling form of water pollution and thereby protect New York’s aquatic environments.
  
  
• NYSG Facilitates Development of Oswego’s New Maritime Center (pdf)
  During the fall of 2008, Oswego, NY’s major maritime organizations came together to discuss reinventing the city’s Historic Maritime District. Initial discussions included the concept of consolidating the H. Lee White Marine Museum, Oswego Maritime Alliance (OMA), and Oswego Maritime Foundation (OMF) to better provide maritime history, education, and events. The Port Authority of Oswego provided input, and, as discussions moved forward, New York Sea Grant was asked to join the group as facilitator as NYSG had assisted each group individually since their inceptions in developing programs and events. Since then, NYSG has played a pivotal role in assisting in what could have been a very contentious process.
  
  
• Trawl Design Workshop Significant for Great Lakes Fisheries (pdf)
  Management of the $5 billion Great Lakes fisheries (>$600 million for Lake Ontario) depends on reliable fish abundance estimates derived from bottom trawls. To help bolster the accuracy of this process, New York Sea Grant partnered with the US Geologic Survey and the Memorial University of Newfoundland to convened an intensive 3-day trawl design workshop for 35 biologists and vessel personnel representing state, federal and provincial agencies from the Great Lakes. The workshop trained participants about trawl design and design effects on fish capture.
  
  
• Workforce Training Aids Aquatic Invasive Species Education (pdf)
  In 2011, New York Sea Grant created a workforce development training program to help educate future members of the environmental sector about aquatic invasive species. In the past 200 years, more than 180 aquatic invasive species have entered the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River ecosystems.

Project work in New York’s marine coastal district included:

• Coastal Change Education in NY’s Hudson River Estuary Region (pdf)
  Understanding how our coastlines change over time informs sound stewardship. In 2011 New York Sea Grant and the Cornell University Institute for Resource Information Sciences provided geospatial training for more than 100 K-12 and community youth educators.
  
  
• Long Island Sound Mentor Teacher Program Extended to NY (pdf)
  In 2011, New York Sea Grant began a successful Long Island Sound educational initiative with teachers on Long Island in New York state. Twenty-four workshops in Connecticut and New York have educated more than 300 formal and informal K-12 educators and, through them, more than 14,000 students. Funding has been secured to continue these workshops in 2012.
  
  
• NEMO: Protecting & Restoring Long Island’s Water Resource (pdf)
  For more than 11 years, the New York Sea Grant Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials Program (NYSG NEMO) has delivered the technical resources that Long Island officials need to make informed decisions about water resource protection.
  
  
• New York Educators Help to Restore Gulf Coast Habitats (pdf)
  In February 2011, a group of 14 New York educators traveled to Louisiana to rebuild tidal wetlands and maritime forest communities devastated by recent natural and man-made events.
  
  
• NYSG Focuses on Resolving Dredging Windows Issues (pdf)
  Navigation dredging is vital to New York’s economically-important commercial shipping and recreational boating activity. Regulators set windows when dredging is allowed to minimize environmental impacts. Concern for a growing number of fish species has caused these windows to shrink to a point where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, (USACENYD) found it did not have time to complete necessary projects. USACE and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) requested New York Sea Grant (NYSG) assistance in resolving this long-standing, complex, and costly problem.
  
  
• NY Sea Grant Recognized for Award-Winning Training Program (pdf)
  New York Sea Grant has been recognized by the U.S. Coast Guard for its training programs that are helping to keep commercial fishermen safe at sea. More than 100 commercial fishermen have benefited from this program to date.
  
  
• NYSG Training Programs Support Seafood Safety (pdf)
  In 2011, more than 1,280 individuals from seafood companies and state or federal regulatory agencies participated in food safety training programs conducted or managed by New York Sea Grant.

You can also download these 2011 Extension Impacts Statements as an entire collection:

• 2011 Project Summaries Show Impact on Coastal Waters, Communities, Youth, Economy & Educators (pdf) [13 pp.]

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a statewide network of integrated research, education, and extension services promoting the coastal economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources, has been “Bringing Science to the Shore” for over 40 years. NYSG, one of 32 university-based programs under the National Sea Grant College Program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 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.