Saying goodbye to former director Scott Nixon...
It was with shock and sadness that I learned that Professor Scott Nixon had
passed away on May 21. Scott was one of the world's most creative, intelligent, and
thoughtful ecologists whose works will be forever remembered in the same
breath as his mentor, H.T. Odum. Scott made Narragansett Bay into a world-class living laboratory for coastal science while mentoring hundreds of
students to become the next generation of coastal leaders. Scott took an
infant Sea Grant program in Rhode Island and built it into a national
leader, and he was the longest serving and most influential director over the program's 40-year history. We will miss the global expertise he brought to Rhode Island, and even more his quiet and patient mentoring behind the
scenes and his insight, which he shared so generously with each of us whose lives he touched.
Barry A. Costa-Pierce, Ph.D. FAAAS
Retiring director of Rhode Island Sea Grant
EVENTS
JUNE 4-8: Metcalf Lecture Series
JUNE 16: Newport Harbor Walk Tour
Photo Contest
Grab your camera and head to the R.I. shoreline June 2 and 3 to photograph some of the highest high tides of the year. Send your photos to Rhode Island Sea Grant, and you may see your photo published in the magazine 41°N. The photographer who captures the best photo will receive a prize worth $50. More >>
What to do about noise in Newport Harbor?
Is Newport Harbor too noisy? Kristen Bonjour, a third-year law student at Roger Williams University School of Law, was selected as a Rhode Island Sea Grant Law Fellow in 2011 to work on a project for the Newport Waterfront Commission sparked by noise complaints. Her task was to research possible noise ordinances for Newport Harbor using other harbor communities as examples, and to report on the feasibility and practicality of each option. More >>
Planning for ocean uses
Fishermen, offshore energy developers, shipping companies, recreational boaters, and aquaculture operators are some of the user groups competing for space in coastal and ocean areas. That list does not take into account future uses of ocean areas (cemeteries?) or the far-reaching ecological, social, and cultural significance of the marine environment. And then there are airport flight paths and unexploded submerged ordnance to deal with.
Planning for who gets to do what (and where, when, and how) in a nation's coastal and ocean waters was the focus of the Baird Symposium on international marine spatial planning held in May in Providence. More >>
