Volume 17, No. 1 — Special Issue 1998

Message from the Director

This year marks a special one for the marine and coastal resources we all love. It's the International Year of the Ocean, so proclaimed by the United Nations in recognition of the importance of the marine environment to everyone on the planet.

Here are a few facts that help underscore the importance of the ocean in our lives:

  More than half the U.S. population lives and works within 50 miles of the coastline.

  One of every six jobs in the United States is marine-related. One-third of our nation's gross domestic product is produced in coastal areas through fishing, transportation, recreation, and other industries that depend on healthy waters and marine habitats.

  Beaches are the leading tourism destination in the United States, with about 180 million people visiting the coast each year.

Here at the University of Delaware Sea Grant College Program, our goal is to promote the wise use, conservation, and management of our ocean resources through the highest-quality research, graduate student education, and public service.

Currently, our scientists are conducting research in coastal processes/ engineering, marine biotechnology, environmental studies, fisheries, and public policy. Their efforts are targeted on major issues critical to Delaware and to the nation, from beach erosion to horseshoe crab conservation, from the development of new environmental monitoring technologies to rapidly assess coastal ecosystem health, to advancing research and education about the fish-killing organism Pfiesteria.

Our marine outreach team — the Marine Advisory Service and Marine Communications staff — help translate and disseminate Sea Grant research results to business owners, educators, and many other citizens through workshops, publications, our SeaTalk radio series, World Wide Web site, and award-winning Coast Day festival. This year, we're also hosting special Year of the Ocean activities to encourage even more Delawareans to "get their feet wet" in marine science.

Without a healthy ocean and coast, our Diamond State would lose much of its brilliance. During this Year of the Ocean, please join us in learning more about Delaware's coastal treasures and how we can protect and preserve them for future generations.

Dr. Carolyn A. Thoroughgood
Director, Sea Grant College Program
Dean, College of Marine and Earth Studies
 

Coastal Engineering Research

The goal of coastal engineering research at the University of Delaware Sea Grant College Program is to develop the means to predict the behavior of the shoreline under short-term conditions, such as during storms, and under long-term scenarios, decades into the future. We're also working to assess the costs and benefits of various methods that are used to manage and protect beaches, such as beach nourishment.

Besides providing critical habitat for horseshoe crabs and other marine life, Delaware's beaches help fuel the state's economy. In 1990, an estimated $165 million dollars was spent by tourists in a nine-month period at our popular resorts from Rehoboth Beach to Fenwick Island.
 

Where Do You Go to the Beach?

More than 5 million people visited Delaware's beaches last year. That's about seven times the state's entire population.

Last fall, George Parsons, an economist at the University of Delaware College of Marine and Earth Studies, sent a survey to 1,000 residents in the Mid-Atlantic region to find out which beaches they visit. He and graduate student Matt Massey are now analyzing the results to measure the economic value of Mid-Atlantic beaches.

Survey respondents reported the beaches they had visited throughout the United States in 1997. These data, along with detailed information on characteristics ranging from the beach's width to the presence of lifeguards, will enable the researchers to predict beach visitation patterns throughout the region.

More importantly, the model may be used to predict changes in visitation patterns in the case of events such as beach closings or loss of beach width.

"The model also will enable us to estimate the change in economic value of beaches when certain characteristics change, such as if the beach gets narrower, or if it gets more crowded," Parsons notes.

Parsons hopes such information will be useful in benefit-cost analyses as well as natural resource damage assessments. "For example, the model could be used in economic analyses for assessing beach management practices currently in use in Delaware," he says.
 

Computer Program May
Prove "Shore Bet" in
Predicting Coastline Changes

Coastal engineers face the formidable task of sorting out the hydrodynamics of the waves and currents that occur nearshore and translating their complex motions into mathematical and physics equations.

These equations then form the basis of computer models that are used by coastal engineers and resource managers to predict shorelines, as well as the performance of coastal protection methods that may range from jetties to beach nourishment projects.

University of Delaware coastal engineer Ib Svendsen and his students have developed a promising computer modeling program called "SHORECIRC," which, as its name implies, is designed to simulate circulation processes near the shore.

Currently, Svendsen and his students are testing the model's ability to elucidate the hydrodynamic mechanisms involved in rip current generation and evolution.

"Rip currents are among the most feared coastal phenomena because they can carry swimmers out to sea, causing many to drown," says Svendsen. "Coastal engineers recognize rip currents as an important element in the nearshore circulation balance, particularly during storms. Nevertheless, few measurements are available that describe where and when these currents occur."

Through extensive laboratory experiments in the University's 66-foot-long-by-66-foot-wide directional wave basin, Svendsen and his students hope to begin solving some of the mysteries of this fascinating, yet often treacherous phenomenon.

"Today's commercial models are not able to provide information about rip currents," he notes."We are trying to fill that void."
 

Recovering from Coastal
Disasters: Who Gets Relief?

When the weather is good, the coast offers the perfect combination of sea and sunshine. But when a hurricane warning is issued, the vulnerability of the coast quickly becomes apparent.

From 1953, the year the first Presidential disaster declaration was issued, to September 1989, the United States never experienced a disaster costing more than $1 billion in federal relief funds. Since then, however, there have been 10 disasters exceeding $1 billion or more in loss, with Hurricane Andrew representing the nation's most costly calamity.

Rick Sylves, a political scientist at the University of Delaware, is reviewing the frequency and duration of coastal disasters, the magnitude of their loss, and the history of disaster relief spending on federal to local levels in America's 30 coastal states.

"Since 1953, there have been about 2,000 gubernatorial requests for Presidential declaration of major disaster or emergency, most of them from coastal states," Sylves says. "About a third have been denied."

Sylves has completed a series of statistical summaries and maps that will help tell the story of coastal disaster relief to government officials.

"My hope is that by knowing the disaster record, public officials will have an even greater appreciation for the need to protect coastal inhabitants, resources, and property," he says. "I also hope to provide information that will help governors better understand why disaster declarations may be turned down."

Marine Biotechnology Research

Broadly defined, marine biotechnology is the use of marine organisms or their components to provide goods or services.

Nationally, Sea Grant scientists have helped advance the U.S. effort in marine biotechnology through a number of achievements, from developing anti-cancer drugs from marine algae, to genetically engineering microbes for use in cleaning up oil spills.

Here at the University of Delaware Sea Grant College Program, marine biotechnology research began in the 1970s, when our scientists began working on a regional waste disposal problem of the seafood industry: blue crab shells. Our scientists discovered a polymer in the blue crab's shell, called chitin, that could be spun into fibers for use in surgical sutures, bandages, and other high-value products.

Today, Delaware Sea Grant researchers are conducting a variety of marine biotechnology research, from examining the shipworm's biology at the molecular level to figure out better methods of controlling this pest, to searching out genes for disease resistance that will help the Mid-Atlantic oyster population begin to recover.
 

Giving Oysters a Fighting Chance

The parasites MSX and Dermo are harmless to humans but lethal to oysters. The two diseases have decimated a Delaware Bay fishery that in its heyday hauled in over 3 million bushels per year.

To increase our native oyster's resistance to the diseases, marine biologist Patrick Gaffney from the University of Delaware College of Marine and Earth Studies is working with colleagues in the region on two strategies. One approach is to create a disease-resistant hybrid by breeding our native oyster with the Pacific oyster. The other is to explore the genetic diversity within our native oyster, which ranges from Nova Scotia to the Gulf states, to determine if any individuals in the species can resist disease and thus be used in breeding programs.

"While I don't think it's realistic to expect the oyster industry in the Delaware and Chesapeake bays to ever be what it was years ago," Gaffney says, "disease-resistant oysters could help the industry regain some lost ground."
 

What Cues Baby Crabs to Settle
Down and Behave Like Adults?

Marine biologist Charles Epifanio and his colleagues at the University of Delaware College of Marine and Earth Studies want to know what triggers baby crabs to settle to the bay bottom, where they metamorphose into young adults.

Knowing the answer could not only shed light on the basic life processes that govern certain shellfish, but also provide clues to controlling such pests as the mud crab, which preys on oysters and clams.

In a series of lab experiments during the past year, Epifanio and his team introduced larval mud crabs to clean rocks and shells as well as to materials covered with the natural bacterial slime, or biofilm, that rapidly coats objects submerged in seawater.

"The results were striking," Epifanio says. "The clean materials had no effect on the larvae, but the structures covered with biofilm induced the crabs' metamorphosis to the next stage of life."

The researchers also found that exudates from adult mud crabs as well as from a predator — the blue crab — induced the mud crab babies to mature.

Currently, the research team is working to isolate these chemical cues. If the chemical recipes can be identified, they may foster new controls for mud crabs.
 

Shipworm Researchers Find Exciting
Answers  to "Boring" Problem

The shipworm would be the perfect monster for a horror film set in a forest. This animal loves to bore wood. But ironically, if it weren't for some special bacteria that live in one of its glands, it could never digest its prey.

"Shipworms can digest wood only because of the symbiotic relationship they have with these bacteria," says molecular biologist Craig Cary of the University of Delaware College of Marine and Earth Studies. "While the shipworm provides the bacteria with a home, the bacteria provide the shipworm with the enzymes it needs to digest cellulose, the chief component of wood."

But how do shipworms acquire the microbes so critical to their survival? The answer could provide insight into new ways of combating the wood borer, which annually causes billions of dollars in damaged ships, piers, and other structures.

To find out, Cary and graduate student Alison Sipe set up a shipworm culture facility and constructed molecular probes to help them search out the shipworm's microscopic partners in crime.

Based on the scientific literature, the scientists thought their quarry would be only one kind of bacteria. But in a startling discovery, Sipe has found that each of the three shipworm species she has examined so far has its own unique bacterial partner. From one of these shipworm species, she has successfully isolated a novel strain of bacteria that has not been cultivated before.

The scientists also think they've determined at least how one shipworm species, native to the West Coast, acquires its bacteria. Cary says the microbes appear to be carried on from one generation to the next in the shipworm's eggs.

At this point, with shipworm bacteria in culture, Cary and Sipe will begin testing the microbes' sensitivities to various compounds extracted from wood. Since certain tropical woods have superior resistance to shipworm infestation, the scientists will be examining them in search of an antimicrobial compound. Once identified, its effectiveness in squelching the wood borer's appetite will be tested.
 

Sorting Out the Policy
Implications of Marine Biotechnology

While marine biotechnology has led to significant advancements in medicine and other areas, it also raises serious legal, ethical, and safety questions.

For example, who should have access to the ocean jurisdictions of coastal nations for the prospecting of marine organisms? Or how should biotechnology be used in the production of aquacultured seafood?

Marine policy professors Biliana Cicin-Sain and Robert Knecht of the University of Delaware College of Marine and Earth Studies are wrapping up a three-year study that has examined these weighty issues as they apply to the marine realm.

With the help of an interdisciplinary team of experts, the scientists examined issues of access to marine organisms, biosafety, and intellectual property rights regarding biotechnological applications ranging from aquaculture to marine pollution control.

"There is no question that marine biotechnology holds great promise in improving human lives," says Cicin-Sain. "By addressing policy, regulatory, and ethical issues early on, we're hoping to help government and industry better prepare for and respond to these issues in the best interests of the public and the marine environment."

Currently, Cicin-Sain and Knecht are preparing a book based on their Sea Grant research for Island Press.
 

Environmental Studies Research

A healthy marine environment is critical to Delaware's future. Our coastal treasures include more than 260 miles of saltwater shoreline; about 90,000 acres of tidal wetlands; two National Estuaries — the Delaware Bay, and the Inland Bays; the busiest canal in the nation — the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal; and 24 miles of beaches along the Atlantic Ocean.

Currently, University of Delaware Sea Grant researchers are working to transform the marsh reed Phragmites australis from a nuisance plant into a low-cost sludge buster for local sewage treatment plants. As part of a regional marsh restoration project, we're also studying how the burning and spraying of Phragmites in a marsh affects the ecology of marsh creeks. We're examining cross-shore circulation patterns in Delaware Bay to learn more about pollution transport. And we're developing new technologies — from a diagnostic probe, to satellite techniques — to rapidly assess the health of coastal ecosystems.
 

Going with the Flow in Delaware Bay

With the last current meter safely deployed in Delaware Bay, oceanographer Kuo-Chuin Wong breathes a sigh of relief. The sphere-shaped instrument will provide him with data on the bay's little-known cross-shore circulation patterns.

"Most people think of circulation in estuaries like the Delaware Bay as a simple southerly movement, with water traveling through the channel," says Wong. "But there are also cross-bay circulation patterns that help distribute salt, nutrients, and pollutants in Delaware Bay."

Wong's research has confirmed the existence of two branches of brackish outflow in the shallow areas along the bay's shores, separated by a much saltier inflow in the deep channel. He also has discovered that a down-estuary wind strengthens this pattern, while an up-estuary wind greatly weakens it.

"What this means is that the Delaware Bay's circulation is more complex than most of us realized," Wong notes. "A better understanding of the bay's circulation system can help us in many ways. For example, we can better predict the path of disasters such as oil spills to speed their cleanup."
 

Marsh "Weed" Turns Over
New Leaf to Become Sludge Buster

Many tourists consider the plant to be beautiful, its tasseled, blue-green stalks turning to gold in winter. But Phragmites australis is regarded as a scourge by resource managers because it has overtaken thousands of acres of Delaware's marshes, crowding out more desirable plants that provide wildlife with food and habitat.

Lately, however, it appears that Phragmites may be turning over a new leaf. Capitalizing on the extensive root system that makes the plant such a wetlands pest, scientist Jack Gallagher is putting Phragmites to work as a sludge buster at sewage treatment facilities in Bridgeville and Delmar.

"What Phragmites does is speed up the drying and decomposition of the treated waste, leaving less sludge to haul away," says Gallagher, who is a botanist at the University of Delaware College of Marine and Earth Studies.

The 2,000 plants he and graduate student Tamara Saltman helped install at Bridgeville's facility three years ago have multiplied to 29,000 plants. So far, these plants have saved the Bridgeville facility $2,000 a year.

The scientists are also testing a variegated strain of Phragmites, with yellow-striped leaves, to determine if it can break down sludge even faster than its wild cousin. So far, they've found the variegated strain, which they developed, to be as effective a sludge buster as the wild type.

They also say the variegated Phragmites may be a better choice for planting in open-air sludge beds. Since the variegated plant is sterile, it can't change its stripes to become a marsh eater.
 

Film Reveals Status of Marsh Recovery

It takes teamwork to collect and analyze the biological films that form on the surface of a marsh creek, as botanist Denise Seliskar and postdoctoral fellow Wendy Carey can tell you. Over 12-hour tidal cycles, the two scientists from the University of Delaware College of Marine and Earth Studies continuously dip a glass plate into the marsh creek to collect the film on the water surface. Back in the lab, microscopic and chemical analyses are done on the film and underlying water.

The films that float on the surface of a marsh creek often contain algae and other nutrient-rich material that provide a concentrated food source for fish and other animals. But up to now, these nutritious films largely have been ignored in marsh ecology.

"We found that the surface films were much richer biologically than the water beneath them," Seliskar notes. "Last July, for example, we observed thousands of algal cells per milliliter in the film on one creek compared to very few in the water column below."

Her and Carey's research also indicates that a marsh does recover well from spraying and burning for the marsh nemesis Phragmites.

"While the spraying and burning of the marsh to control this plant may put a temporary lull on things," Seliskar says, "our films show that the ecology of the marsh creeks does come back to rival that of natural creeks."
 

Probing for Answers to Chemistry Questions

George Luther inserts the glass tube into the flame of the Bunsen burner and extrudes one end into a fine taper. Next, a gold wire plated with mercury will be introduced into the glass and carefully sealed under the burner's steady glow.

Once completed, the device — a microelectrode — can be inserted into seawater, sediments, or even bacterial films to quickly measure a number of highly reactive chemicals and metals that can reveal an ecosystem's health, including dissolved oxygen, hydrogen sulfide, iron, and manganese. Previous probes could characterize only gaseous compounds, and typically only one gas could be measured per microelectrode.

During the past year, Luther, an oceanographer at the University of Delaware College of Marine and Earth Studies, has been working on a new probe to measure nitrate and ammonia, reactive forms of nitrogen that can have serious impacts on the health of coastal waters. He also recently tested the original microelectrode's sea legs. Last summer, it was deployed on a remotely operated vehicle to analyze seafloor sediments in real time off the New Jersey coast.
 

Advancing New Technologies
to Assess Coastal Health

Satellites can easily detect concentrations of chlorophyll — a key water-quality indicator — in the open ocean.

But in estuaries like the Delaware Bay, bottom sediments and runoff suspended by the tides interfere with chlorophyll's spectral signature, making water-quality assessments by satellite difficult.

To overcome this limitation, scientists in Delaware Sea Grant's Coastal Ecosystem Health Project have developed a new data processing method using a neural network, which can sort out patterns and "learn" from trial and error.

Modeled after the brain's system of neurons, neural networks have been used to perform such tasks as foreign language translation.

To enable their neural network to discern chlorophyll versus suspended sediment concentrations in Delaware Bay satellite images, researchers primed it with a training set of data from actual water-quality measurements taken in the bay. The network then used the data to calibrate its patterns to correctly interpret future inputs.

The Coastal Ecosystem Health Project is led by an interdisciplinary team of experts in satellite oceanography, marine policy, and outreach from the University of Delaware, with input from state coastal managers.

The project's goal is to develop techniques that managers can use to improve ecosystems from the St. Jones River watershed, to Delaware Bay.
 

Fisheries & Aquaculture Research

Unfortunately, however, most commercial fish stocks in U.S. waters and around the world are in serious decline, with many in dire need of rebuilding.

Here at the University of Delaware Sea Grant College Program, we're working to understand how physical and biological factors affect the feeding, growth, and survival of important Mid-Atlantic fisheries ranging from blue crabs to summer flounder. We're also working to relieve fishing pressure on the horseshoe crab, a critical Delaware Bay resource that is being used as eel and whelk bait, by creating an artificial bait that chemically mimics it.

To keep up with the growing demand for seafood, aquaculture must continue to grow. Sea Grant research is now under way at Delaware State University to determine optimal growing conditions for native crayfish, as well as for bait fish.
 

What Conditions Fuel
Fast Flounder Growth?

The estuaries along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts provide nursery grounds for numerous fishes. Knowing what environmental conditions help young fish grow best can help resource managers better define and protect critical fish habitat.

"When fish are this young they're extremely vulnerable to predators," says Tim Targett, a fisheries scientist at the University of Delaware College of Marine and Earth Studies, as he nets the 2-inch flounder swimming in the tank in front of him. "We're trying to determine what nursery conditions will help young flounder grow fastest, increasing their odds of survival."

Targett is finishing up experiments that will reveal the optimum temperature and salinity conditions for young summer and southern flounder. Next, he'll examine the effect of turbidity, or water clarity, on the fish. When his research is complete, it will help resource managers define the habitat vital to the early life stages of these two important East Coast fisheries.
 

Mapping the Voyage of
the Baby Blue Crabs

When baby blue crabs hatch in the Delaware Bay in July and August, wind and river flow transport them to the ocean where they spend the first few weeks of their lives. Winds later position large numbers of these larval crabs near the Delaware Bay's mouth where tides help carry them back into the bay to mature.

Oceanographer Richard Garvine and marine biologist Charles Epifanio, of the University of Delaware College of Marine and Earth Studies, have pooled their talents to map the natural forces that dictate the baby blue crab's itinerary in its first few months of life.

Previous research by the scientists has indicated that blue crabs spawned at the mouth of Delaware Bay are carried rapidly southward by the Delaware Coastal Current, which flows out of Delaware Bay, takes a right turn, and then hugs the coast. Some of these crabs are later shuttled northward by summertime winds for re-entry into Delaware Bay.

However, Garvine and Epifanio also have identified a "null zone," along the northern mouth of Delaware Bay and southern New Jersey coast, where patches of baby crabs may be found. Using larval crab collectors and satellite-tracked drifters, the scientists hope to determine this zone's impact on the Delaware Bay's most valuable fishery.
 

Artificial Bait May Take the
Pressure Off the Horseshoe Crab

The horseshoe crab lived at the time of the dinosaurs. Yet sharp declines in its population make some fear it may share the same fate as its prehistoric friends.

The horseshoe crab's decline is attributed to factors ranging from the loss of sandy beaches the animal needs to lay its eggs, to overharvesting, particularly of females, for use as eel and whelk bait.

During the past year, Nancy Targett, marine biologist and associate dean at the University of Delaware College of Marine and Earth Studies, has been working to minimize fishing pressure on the horseshoe crab through biochemistry. She has made significant progress toward identifying the stimulant in female horseshoe crabs that makes them such an irresistible bait for eels and whelks. With this information, she wants to develop an artificial bait that will attract eels and whelks just as well as female horseshoe crabs do.

She and her graduate students are in the home stretch in chemically characterizing the attractant. The next step will be to incorporate the compound into a variety of artificial bait types and test their effectiveness. Several commercial fishermen have already contacted Targett, offering to test the baits when they are ready.

"The fishing industry is very supportive of this effort," Targett says. "With their help, our goal is to create an artificial horseshoe crab bait that will work as well as the traditional one. The result should be a win-win situation for the fishermen as well as the horseshoe crab, resulting in more horseshoe crabs for spawning and sustainable uses in medicine."

The Delaware Bay is home to the largest population of horseshoe crabs in the world. Here, freshly spawned horseshoe crab eggs fuel over a million shorebirds on their spring migration north to the Arctic.

In human medicine, one of the creature's most important contributions is a compound in its blood which is used by the pharmaceutical industry to test intravenous drugs for dangerous bacteria. Blood for this test is removed from the horseshoe crab without harming the animal.
 

Netting the Best Methods
for Growing Fish

How do you quickly and economically grow crayfish ready for market, and bait fish ready for sale? Pinpointing the optimum conditions for accomplishing these feats is the goal of Bernie Petrosky and Bill Daniels, aquatic biologists at Delaware State University.

In Delaware State's expansive aquaculture ponds, the scientists are analyzing the growth of mummichogs, a popular bait fish, under different water management regimes.

Figuring out the best system for maintaining good water quality is critical to the success of any aquaculture operation since fish live, eat, and "breathe" in the same water in which they excrete their waste.

"The water-quality information we develop will be applicable to any bait fish," says Daniels. "Growing bait fish may offer farmers, for example, a way to use a farm pond to supplement their incomes without a major investment in labor."

In other research, Petrosky and Daniels are conducting laboratory experiments to determine the best techniques for growing the eastern White River crayfish, the only crayfish native to our area.

"We're working to figure out the production techniques that will enable local fish farmers to produce crayfish year-round," notes Petrosky.

Public Education & Outreach

Here at the University of Delaware Sea Grant College Program, we have a corps of outreach specialists dedicated to assisting the public with coastal challenges and opportunities: our Marine Advisory Service (MAS) and Marine Communications staffs.

The MAS travels the state to assist Delawareans with issues pertaining to aquaculture, seafood technology, marine education, marine resource management, and marine recreation and tourism.

The Marine Communications staff helps translate Sea Grant research into a variety of publications, communicates our research to the media, produces the SeaTalk radio series, develops our Web site at www.ocean.udel.edu, and more.

Together, these staffs coordinate our popular celebration of the ocean: Coast Day, held every first Sunday in October at the Lewes campus.
 

Marine Communications
Shares Science with You

The Marine Communications staff, based at the University of Delaware's main campus in Newark, works constantly to help extend marine information to the public.

The five-member staff develops and distributes publications ranging from technical reports to press releases, as well as radio announcements, videos, and Web pages.

Among the staff's accomplishments during the past year were the proceedings of a public forum on horseshoe crabs; fact sheets on topics from Pfiesteria to El Niño; and media relations activities resulting in coverage by the Associated Press to CNN.

The staff also won awards from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, Delaware Press Association, International Association of Business Communicators, National Federation of Press Women, and Society for Technical Communication.

The Marine Communications team includes art director David Barczak, marine outreach coordinator Tracey Bryant, production manager Pamela Donnelly, administrative assistant Kimberly Doucette, and marine outreach specialist Claire McCabe.
 

Marine Advisory Service Helps
Tackle Coastal Challenges

A typical day with the University of Delaware Sea Grant Marine Advisory Service (MAS) might take you to a workshop to demonstrate safe seafood handling practices to professional chefs in the morning, to a meeting of chamber of commerce members interested in learning more about ecotourism in the evening.

Directing the efforts of the six-person staff is marine biologist Kent Price. A member of the faculty of the University's College of Marine and Earth Studies for the past 31 years, Price conducts a variety of environmental and fisheries research, ranging from the development of a novel artificial reef made of stabilized coal-ash waste, to a present study to examine the effect of nutrient enrichment on the plant and animal communities in Delaware's Inland Bays.

Marine recreation and tourism specialist Jim Falk is working with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and the Center for the Inland Bays to develop a water-use plan for Delaware's Inland Bays. The purpose of the plan is to help better manage the diversity of activities in the bays, from crabbing to jet skiing. Using a consensus-building approach, Falk has hosted public meetings to help identify and minimize water-use conflicts in the bays in order to design a blueprint for their future. Falk is also helping to coordinate a summer workshop for the state tourism industry on the microorganism Pfiesteria piscicida, which was implicated in fish kills in nearby Maryland waters last year.

Marine resource management specialist Joe Farrell is involved in several cooperative projects that are providing interdisciplinary University resources in support of local community problems. In one project, Farrell and colleague Jack Martin, from the University's College of Agricultural Sciences, are characterizing storm water impact on South Bethany's canal system using automated water sampling equipment. This project is a result of an earlier collaborative effort between the town and the Inland Bays Citizens Monitoring Program, which Farrell manages, that assessed water quality in the canal system.

Seafood technology specialist Doris Hicks provides seafood handling and preparation information to a variety of groups, from seafood processors to consumers. During the past year, as part of a national Sea Grant alliance, she helped instruct regional seafood processors in the seafood safety techniques of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) program. Hicks also continues to write the "Seafood Advisor" column for the National Fisheries Institute's Seafood Source newsletter, as well as a guest column for the Cape Gazette in Lewes. This summer, under the sponsorship of the Northeastern Regional Aquaculture Center, Hicks is coordinating a special program for food educators to promote greater use of aquacultured seafood.

Aquaculture specialist John Ewart operates the Delaware Aquaculture Resource Center in Cannon Laboratory at the University's Lewes campus. Open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, the center offers fish farmers a variety of resource materials, from supply catalogs to instructional videos. Increasingly, fish farmers also are tapping into the resource center's Web site at darc.cms.udel.edu. Currently, Ewart is exploring a variety of production techniques for growing oysters in the Inland Bays. Besides serving on the Delaware Aquaculture Advisory Council, he also is coordinating the Northeastern Regional Aquaculture Center's regional extension network.

Marine education specialist Bill Hall helps bring the ocean into Delaware classrooms. Each year, several hundred teachers participate in the marine science workshops he develops with the state Department of Education. This summer, he is coordinating "Operation Pathfinder" for the Mid-Atlantic region. This course, sponsored by the U.S. Navy, introduces kindergarten through twelfth-grade teachers to oceanographic concepts. In addition to drafting popular publications on marine life, Hall also helps organize the horseshoe crab census held annually along Delaware Bay.
 
 

International Year of the Ocean

We also encourage you to adopt these great stewardship practices, presented by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):

Top 10 Things You
Can Do to Help Our Ocean 

1. Learn all you can about the ocean.
2. Be a smart shopper. Know the source and quality of your seafood.
3. Conserve water.
4. Reduce your use of household pollutants, including herbicides, pesticides, and cleaning products.
5. Reduce waste. Recycle, re-use, and compost.
6. Reduce automobile pollution. Use fuel-efficient vehicles or carpool. Recycle motor oil.
7. Protect ocean wildlife. Don't dispose of fishing lines, nets, or plastic items in or near the water.
8. Be considerate of sea-life habitats. Don't feed sea birds, mammals, or turtles, or disturb their nesting grounds.
9. Get involved. Take part in a beach cleanup or other ocean-oriented activity.
10. Care about the ocean! Pass on your knowledge!

For more information, visit NOAA's Year of the Ocean Web site at www.yoto98.noaa.gov.
 
 

Sea Grant Hosts Lecture
Series to Bring Ocean to Public

This past spring, the University of Delaware Sea Grant College Program and the College of Marine and Earth Studies co-sponsored a special lunchtime lecture series, featuring renowned speakers, at the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington.

The distinguished lecturers for the series included JoAnn Burkholder, the North Carolina State University botanist who is regarded as the world's expert on the fish-killing organism Pfiesteria piscicida; D. James Baker, Undersecretary for Oceans and Atmosphere in the U.S. Department of Commerce and administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and Sylvia Earle, the pioneering ocean scientist whose accomplishments have ranged from walking on the ocean floor untethered at 1,250 feet — a feat unmatched by any other deep-sea explorer, to founding Deep Ocean Exploration and Research, a company that designs, operates, and consults on manned and robotic sub-sea systems.

The lecture series drew nearly 400 participants, from members of the Wilmington business community, to retirees and students.


Learn More about Shore at Coast Day

What began as a simple open house in 1977 at the University of Delaware College of Marine and Earth Studies in Lewes is now the single largest educational event hosted by the University of Delaware. It's Coast Day!

Coordinated by the outreach staff of the University of Delaware Sea Grant College Program, Coast Day annually attracts more than 10,000 visitors to the Lewes campus to learn about marine science firsthand through research demonstrations, ship tours, lectures, marine critter touch tanks, and many other activities.

A special Year of the Ocean celebration is in development for our 22nd annual Coast Day on Sunday, October 4, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Lewes campus. For more information, call (302) 831-8083 or visit our Web site at www.ocean.udel.edu.
 
 

University of Delaware
Sea Grant College Program

Financial Report
July 1, 1997 – June 30, 1998

In addition to this funding, University of Delaware Sea Grant investigators successfully competed for several special grants from the National Sea Grant College Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. Funds for these projects are managed by Delaware Sea Grant and serve as an important mechanism for the development of comprehensive and integrated research efforts:

Marine biologist Patrick Gaffney was awarded $83,000 from the Oyster Disease Program to continue his research on MSX and Dermo and the Mid-Atlantic oyster population.

Marine policy professor Robert Knecht and satellite oceanographer Vic Klemas began the third year of a three-year special enhancement award totaling $1,055,234 to provide resource managers with innovative technologies for monitoring and improving coastal ecosystems such as Delaware Bay. This is a multidisciplinary approach involving GIS/remote sensing, policy studies, and outreach.

Aquaculture professors Bernie Petrosky and William Daniels, at Delaware State University, began the second year of a special three-year award, totaling $150,000, to develop aquaculture methods appropriate to the Mid-Atlantic region for crayfish and bait fish.

Marine policy professors Robert Knecht and Biliana Cicin-Sain began a one-year, $98,000 project to initiate a national dialogue on U.S. national and coastal ocean policy including assessment of the work of the Stratton Commission.