New Sea Grant Specialists Help NY’s Coastal Communities

Stony Brook, NY, June 6, 2022 - Sea Grant programs in New York and Connecticut have hired a team of new Long Island Sound Study (LISS) professionals dedicated to protecting the communities, economy, and environment of the Sound.

For New York Sea Grant (NYSG), three extension specialists are strengthening the network of sustainable and resilient communities along the Long Island Sound in Westchester, Nassau, and Suffolk Counties. Additionally, a new outreach coordinator has been hired to work in Long Island Sound’s Western Basin, covering New York City and Westchester County, supplementing an existing position at Stony Brook University in a NYSG-LISS partnership spanning over three decades.

NYSG has also hired a coastal climate specialist who, in addition to offshore energy work, is extending cutting-edge research related to climate-change mitigation, which ultimately will help with local resilience and ocean literacy.

Details on these specialists are featured in NYSG's Spring 2022 newsletter, NY Coastlines, out today. E-subscribers should check their Inbox (or Spam filter/folder) for this double issue of "NYSG E-News" and new E-subscriptions can be made to receive this issue now at www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines.

Other highlights from the e-newsletter:

(a) You can provide input on NYSG's next Strategic Plan that will guide work for 2024-2027. Stakeholder feedback is an important component of the Plan as it helps drive NYSG's priorities and programs for the future.

(b) In Education news, "Plastic Pollution and You" is a new 126-page, 15-lesson curriculum offered by New York Sea Grant that is focused on a man-made threat to the quality of New York’s marine and freshwater aquatic ecosystems.

(c) Learn more about a number of seafood efforts, including a free shellfish e-course and a new aquaculture fact sheet. There are also seafood and seaweed processing resource guides and seafood HACCP training opportunities for industry and regulatory agencies.

(d) A handful of Regional and National news items, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Outlook. Ongoing La Niña and above-average Atlantic temperatures have set the stage for a busy season, which began on June 1st and runs through November 30th.

Since 1971, New York Sea Grant, a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York, has been one of 34 university-based programs under NOAA's National Sea Grant College Program. More at www.nyseagrant.org.