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News
Updated April 22, 2008
For more information on any of the items listed here, please
contact Rhode Island Sea Grant Communications at (401) 874-6842.
Upcoming Sea Grant events
June 9-27, 2008
Summer Institute in Advanced Coastal Management
The Summer Institute in Advanced Coastal Management is an intensive three-week program for coastal resources management professionals. The Coastal Resources Center (CRC) at the University of Rhode Island has been offering an intermediate version of this course biannually since 1992, and now has over 200 alumni working in 60 countries. The Summer Institute Advanced Course is held at the campuses of the University of Rhode Island.
October 23-24, 2008
7th Marine Law Symposium: A Viable Marine Renewable Energy Industry: Solutions to Legal, Economic, and Policy Challenges
This two-day symposium will explore the means to achieve a viable marine renewable energy industry for the United States with a focus on offshore wind, hydrokinetics (wave, current and tidal), and ocean thermal energy conversion. Its panels will discuss possible solutions for the nascent U.S. marine renewable energy sector’s legal, economic and policy challenges. These include jurisdictional issues and permitting/licensing schemes; research and development for environmental, technological and human dimension issues; economic/financial incentives; and the role of the public and nongovernmental organizations in these areas.
Ongoing: Metro Bay SAMP
Ongoing events on issues relating to the four cities—Cranston,
East Providence, Pawtucket, and Providence—in the Metro
Bay Special Area Management Plan (SAMP) region are listed
on the Metro Bay SAMP .
News
Rhode Island Sea Grant coastal and marine research and programs continue with NOAA funding
Over the next two years, Rhode Island Sea Grant, through its biennial funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and matching grants, will be funding research, outreach, a legal program and education efforts that address coastal issues. A total of $6.3 million will be spent in these areas.
“This funding allows us to continue to tackle coastal and marine problems from a variety of perspectives – drawing on the scientific, technical, legal and technical expertise available at Rhode Island’s universities,” said Barry Costa-Pierce, Rhode Island Sea Grant director. “Our work has led to discoveries about climate change and nutrient impacts in Narragansett Bay, the development of tools to reduce fisheries bycatch, the securing of public coastal access in Rhode Island, and practical guidance for the sustainable development of our shorelines, and I am happy that we will continue to support such programs.” The NOAA grant, awarded in February 2008, will continue through January 2010.
URI student job opportunities
Rhode Island Sea Grant needs student office help and communications assistance (writing) for the summer and the fall semester at our Bay campus offices. For more information, contact Monica Allard Cox at (401) 874-6937. You may also download the student job application: / .
 Narragansett Bay book available on Amazon.com
Science for Ecosystem-based Management: Narragansett Bay in the 21st Century is available from . The book addresses the broad problem of coastal nutrient pollution. In the United States, approximately two-thirds of the coastal rivers and bays are moderately to severely degraded from nutrient pollution. However, debates continue about how large a problem nutrient pollution is and what actions to take, and since effective management requires decisions at a local scale, an in-depth case study can provide valuable guidance. For more information on the book, .
Fisheries gear database available
The Rhode Island Sea Grant Sustainable Fisheries Extension Program maintains an on-line
database with information on fisheries-related projects in monitoring, bycatch, gear type, biology, essential fish habitat, cooperative research, and data collection. This database was developed to aid researchers who are designing a range of projects in these areas to provide them with background information and to help prevent duplication. To access the database, .
New publication offers ecological overview of Narragansett Bay
The Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NBNERR) has published An Ecological Profile of the Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, which compiles and summarizes all known literature and data pertaining to the terrestrial, freshwater, and estuarine ecosystems in and
around the reserve in one comprehensive document.
It provides background on the role and history
of the NERR system, discusses the chronology,
organization, and infrastructure of the NBNERR,
and summarizes the human and cultural history of
the reserve. It also contains information
on Narragansett Bay and on estuarine and coastal
ecology that may be of interest to a wider audience. The profile, edited by Kenneth Raposa and Malia Schwartz, is available at the NBNERR website at .
URI fish-saving device pulls in $30,000 prize for American winner of International Smart Gear Competition
New invention - “The Eliminator” - exploits fish behavior to haul in haddock, while keeping other fish out of trawls
 WASHINGTON, November 15, 2007 – A team of Rhode Island inventors today will be awarded the grand prize in the for a fishing gear innovation that could save thousands of fish and other sea creatures from dying accidentally in fishing nets each year, World Wildlife Fund and its partners announced. The winners will be officially announced in Seattle today at the Pacific Marine Expo.
The Grand Prize winning team consists of University of Rhode Island Fisheries Center researchers and Rhode Island Sea Grant Sustainable Fisheries Extension staff Laura Skrobe and David Beutel and fishermen Jon Knight, Phil Ruhle Sr., Phil Ruhle Jr., and Jim O’Grady. Their invention—aptly named “The Eliminator”—captures haddock while reducing the accidental netting of other marine species. The device works by taking advantage of the haddock’s tendency to swim upward but not over the headrope when encountering the large mesh net invention, instead of swimming downward where they can escape the net, which is the tendency of other fish. The Grand Prize winners beat out more than 70 other contenders from 22 countries.
“The collaborative design and development of the Eliminator trawl is a great example of industry and scientists working together with managers to develop innovative solutions to reduce or eliminate bycatch,” said Beutel. “We’re excited to be receiving this award and look forward to continuing to research effective ways of reducing bycatch in fishing.”
Every year millions of tons of fish die and are discarded as unwanted catch, called bycatch. Hundreds of thousands of marine animals are also killed through destructive fishing practices.
“WWF created the International Smart Gear Competition to reward and inspire innovative ideas to reduce fisheries bycatch,” said Ginette Hemley, senior vice president of World Wildlife Fund. “Bycatch is a critical environmental and economic problem. These inventions have shown to be effective solutions in our efforts to make fishing 'smarter' and we’re pleased to honor their creators today.”
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2008 Knauss Fellows head to Washington
Rhode Island Sea Grant is sending four graduate students to Washington, D.C., for one-year, $41,500, National Sea Grant College Program Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowships. Marselle Alexander-Ozinskas, Karen Hyun, Jennifer Mehaffey, and Christine Patrick are among 48 Knauss Fellows who will begin working in the federal government on marine and coastal issues starting February 1, 2008.
John A. Knauss Fellowship opportunity announced for 2009
The National Sea Grant John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship was established to provide a unique educational experience to students enrolled in graduate programs in fields related to marine or Great Lakes studies. The program matches highly qualified graduate students with "hosts" in the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch, or appropriate associations/institutions located in the Washington, DC area. For one year the recipients work on substantive national policy issues related to aquatic resources. The recipients are officially designated Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellows, after the University of Rhode Island's legendary Dean of the Graduate School of Oceanography. For more information, visit or download the .
Latest issue of 41°N focuses on underwater mapping
The latest edition of 41°N, the magazine of the Rhode Island Sea Grant College Program and the University of Rhode Island Coastal Institute, features Narragansett Bay mapping techniques and the MapCoast Partnership. To read the magazine on-line, visit . To receive 41°N by mail (free to Rhode Island residents), contact Jean Gallo at or (401) 874-6842.
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University of Rhode Island