Nor'easter Marine Advisory
Fall/Winter 1995

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Fishing Industry Grant
Targets Deep Sea Shrimp

The Bomsters are seeing red. Royal red, in fact. This fishing family from the Stonington fleet has successfully sought commercial quantities of royal red shrimp, a deep sea crustacean, off the southern New England coast.

Nancy Balcom, Connecticut Sea Grant extension educator, helped the Bomsters prepare and implement a proposal for a Fishing Industry Grant from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and served as scientific advisor for the project. The $118,000 grant enabled Bomster and his three sons to outfit the F/V Patty Jo with new nets, tow wire, and a shrimp grader, and to operate the vessel for six weeks in the fall of 1995 while conducting experimental cruises in search of deep sea shrimp. Although the Bomsters initially targeted the scarlet shrimp Plesiopenaeus edwardsianus, they found that this species was not available in large enough quantities in this region. Instead, they found and harvested commercial quantities of another deep sea species, Pleoticus robustus, or the royal red shrimp. A typical specimen is about 6 inches long with a deep ruby color.

As coastal fishery resources dwindle, Northeast fishermen like the Bomsters are turning to the deep sea. Deep sea animals, however, have not been studied as thoroughly as their coastal counterparts, so it is important to learn about these populations and how to sustain them if new commercial fisheries are to be developed.

John Leamon, a doctoral student at the University of Connecticut, was hired to collect biological data on the royal red shrimp species as well as on the Bomsters' bycatch. The team also took a survey of the shrimp purchasers to assess market acceptance and potential profitability of the shrimp. Balcom is analyzing the scientific data collected during the cruise for a report to NMFS and intends to make the results available for public distribution. Unusual species saved from the bycatch have been preserved and kept for collections at the University of Connecticut and the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard for further study.

Aquaculture Specialist
Fights Sea Lice in Salmon

Salmon farmers in eastern Maine have been fighting a tiny predator that has devastated some Canadian aquaculture operations. Sea lice have become a problem this year because of warm water the last two winters.

The situation has been less severe in Maine, where 18 aquaculture operations sold 14.6 million pounds of salmon and 588,000 pounds of sea run trout last year. However, in New Brunswick, fish farmers lost $15 million to $20 million this year of a $120 million industry because of the lice.

Chris Bartlett, finfish aquaculture specialist for the Maine/New Hampshire Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program, is working closely with UM Cooperative Extension veterinarian Michael Opitz to monitor the sea lice infestation in Maine's salmon farms.

Last August, trials using hydrogen peroxide as a bath treatment had limited success. Bartlett and Optiz found 75 to 85 percent removal of lice after 24 hours, but 90 to 100 percent reinfestation after one week.

Finally, the salmon aquaculture industry opted to try for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of another therapeutic agent. Cypermethrin was chosen because of its lethal effectiveness on all stages of lice and its high safety margin with fish. The FDA required studies at two experimental farm sites to assess the safety of some nontarget species. Lobsters and mussels were chosen for the cypermethrin trials, and when the studies were completed, the FDA gave limited approval for the use of the compound on all Maine farms.

UNH Hosts Operation Pathfinder

Twenty teachers attended Operation Pathfinder (OP), a two-week course on ocean studies and coastal resources, at UNH last July. During the course, the teachers sandwiched classes on marine resources, plate tectonics, benthic communities, marine habitats, coastal processes, and marine pollution among field trips to marine laboratories, science centers, and coastal and estuarine study sites.

OP is a national Sea Grant offering aimed at increasing teachers' knowledge of marine-related topics. Sponsored by NOAA, the U.S. Navy, and the Department of the Interior, the program seeks to attract minority teachers and teachers of minorities and to encourage teachers to take a hands-on approach in their teaching.

"Pressed to teach more science with less resources, many teachers resort to the lecture method," explains Sharon Meeker, a marine educator with the Maine/N.H. Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program. "That can be very boring. We want to help make science interesting and to make sure that marine science gets its fair share of the science curriculum."

Developed by a group of Sea Grant educators, including Meeker, in the early 1990s, OP held its first session in 1993. It is slated to run through 1999. .

 

Nurturing Young Mothers, Children
....and Fish!

The 10 mothers and 16 children who live in Re-Vision House have welcomed another 100 residents, but overcrowding isn't a problem. The new occupants reside in the three-decker's newly constructed greenhouse - and they happen to be fish.

A transitional home for young mothers and their children in Dorchester, Mass., Re-Vision House provides women with stability, structure, education, and training to help them become self-sufficient. The home's experimental greenhouse employs a hydroponic system, by which plants are raised in water instead of soil. With support from MIT Sea Grant, that same system is being used in a pilot project to raise tilapia in three 55-gallon tanks. Tilapia were chosen because they are adaptable, disease-tolerant, and fast-growing. Like the vegetables and herbs grown in the greenhouse and adjacent garden, the fish will feed residents of the house and consumers at large.

Plans call for adding several more tanks, and for raising other species, such as trout, catfish, and ornamentals. MIT Sea Grant will also be working with Re-Vision House staff to develop a business plan for the home's proposed commercial-sized greenhouse and aquaculture venture, which will have strong educational and job training components.

Exotic Aquatics Workshop

Aquaculture and biodiversity were the focus of a recent MIT Sea Grant Center for Coastal Processes workshop on exotic species. Presentations included the human role in introducing new species in the Gulf of Maine; the role of ballast water in transporting exotics; management issues; the effects of exotic species on indigenous finfish; and the demonstration of a software program designed to help ensure safe research with genetically modified fish and shellfish.

Keynote speaker James Carlton, director of the Maritime Studies Program at Williams College at Mystic Seaport, reported that, while it's impossible to predict exact invasions and their impacts, more invasions are inevitable. Following the workshop, MIT Sea Grant and state and federal coastal managers met to discuss regulatory strategies for addressing risks of exotic species introduction. (To order a copy of the software program noted, please contact Christine Christo at (617) 253-7092.)

Follow Signs to New Pumpout Facilities

Through a cooperative effort between federal and state agencies, new pumpout facilities are being constructed at public and private marinas in New York under a federal grant program established under the Clean Vessel Act.

The grant program, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, provides matching grants for the construction of pumpout facilities. So far, over $660,000 in new construction has started, with 51 marina facilities receiving funding. As part of each grant, the marine facilities have also committed at least 25 percent of the funds necessary for construction.

"Not only does this new program benefit boaters but also the general public," said David White, New York Sea Grant Great Lakes program coordinator. "The discharge of untreated waste into our waters can introduce disease-carrying microorganisms that contaminate aquatic environments and impair their value." Decaying wastes can also reduce oxygen levels in water, making it difficult for fish and other marine species to breathe.

The program's funding is from the Sport Fish Restoration Account of the Aquatic Resources Trust Fund, commonly referred to as the Wallop-Breaux fund. This fund is the result of excise taxes on fishing equipment, motors, and fuel, and import duties on fishing tackle and pleasure boats.

Marinas Learn Affordable
Clean Water Practices

The solution was simple and inexpensive - a buffer of hay bales to control runoff into the bay.

Marina compliance with clean water requirements can mean costly facility upgrades. But affordable alternatives, like hay bales, can protect water quality without eroding a marina's profit margin. Finding this middle ground was one goal of a recent marina education workshop held at URI. Regulatory officials from eight North Atlantic states exchanged ideas, visited model marinas, and reversed roles with marina operators to better understand the marina industry and the impact of regulatory requirements.

The first-of-its-kind "clean marina" workshop was developed with a grant from NOAA's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management and sponsored by the Marine Environmental Education Foundation (MEEF), a consortium of Sea Grant programs and marina trade organizations.

"This pilot workshop brought together regulators and the regulated to make government work better," says Mark Amaral, R.I. Sea Grant marine research specialist and MEEF board member. "We hope it will be a national model for training in other coastal regions."

"Ounce of Prevention" Best
for Disaster Management

Tropical storms up to the letter U - including 15 hurricanes - and a winter of blizzards made this a rough year, but these are signs of things to come, says the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Because recovery from such natural disasters costs billions, FEMA's new National Mitigation Strategy promotes hazard mitigation as a proactive, cost-effective alternative to disaster response.

R.I. Sea Grant and the URI Coastal Resources Center (CRC) are working with state, federal, and local agencies, insurers, and other private sector groups to develop a statewide hazard mitigation plan. Through partnerships, government, businesses, and property owners share responsibility for reducing or eliminating risk over the long term. In workshops and shirtsleeve planning sessions, task forces are identifying risks and assessing the impacts of various natural hazards.

The goal? "A proactive, integrated hazard mitigation strategy," says Pamela Pogue, R.I. Sea Grant/CRC marine resource specialist. "Our goal is an actual action plan - steps each agency can take to bring about implementation of a statewide hazard mitigation plan."

Protecting our Coastal Resources for Future Generations

Under the leadership of Graham Giese, coastal geologist and WHOI Sea Grant Marine Advisory Service (MAS) leader, the MAS program over the next biennium will be examining the sustainability of Cape Cod's coastal landforms. These landforms - including nearshore sand flats, harbor-protecting barrier beaches, and salt marshes - are critical habitats for many commercial fisheries species at one or more stages of their development.

In their natural state, the coastal landforms of Cape Cod are self-sustaining. Eroding coastal banks provide sediment for beaches, dunes, and nearshore flats. Wave action transports the sediment alongshore: The sand-size sediment builds barrier beaches and dunes, while finer sediment mixes with organic detritus to build salt marshes behind the protective barriers.

But despite a formidable array of protective measures, these critical resources are undergoing "unsustainable" resource development-alterations that lessen their value for future generations. Examples of such alterations include seawall construction, beach nourishment, and home construction in dune fields.

On the other hand, some communities are undertaking or investigating projects to increase the sustainability of their coastal landforms: removal of roads through barrier beaches to permit dune development and landward migration of beaches; modification of tide gates on marsh dikes to permit renewed inflow of seawater to former salt marshes, allowing renewed sedimentation to rebuild the marsh surface; and, in one Cape Cod town, possible seawall removal to enhance the development of a barrier beach and the salt marsh it protects.

To determine how present activities are affecting coastal landforms now and into the future, this project will: (1) quantify town by town the gains and losses of Cape Cod coastal landform sustainability resulting from decisions by local resource management agencies; (2) identify the state and local policies and/or administrative procedures (or lack thereof) that have resulted in these gains and losses; and (3) review at regular regional meetings the progress and recommend improvements in maintaining coastal landform sustainability.