Tag: rhode island sea grant

Releasing Making the Magic Videos–Lessons Learned from the Rhode Island Shellfish Management Plan

How do you create a comprehensive plan for state shellfish resources that is not only effective and efficient but reflects the needs of government, industry and community groups? Find out through this new film series: Making the Magic.

The SMP is the state’s first comprehensive plan for the management, protection and enhancement of shellfish resources; since plan adoption in 2014, more than 70 percent of SMP recommendations have been, or are being, implemented.

This effort is part of the Rhode Island Shellfish Initiative. The Initiative recognizes the economic and cultural value of shellfish to Rhode Island. Through it, state agencies, industry, academia and community partners will further efforts to sustainably manage local shellfish stock, promote economic growth and jobs, and celebrate Rhode Island’s unique food cultures.

 

 

 

 

Speaker Addition to the Coastal State Discussion Series

Coastal State Discussion Series welcomes Dr. Kathy Castro

as additional speaker

Dr. Kathy Castro, a fisheries scientist specializing in lobster ecology at the University of Rhode Island and who runs the university’s Fisheries Center, has been studying the effects of lobster shell disease for over 15 years. The disease spread rapidly in Rhode Island and continues to expand north where it could also have a dramatic effect on the iconic Maine fishery.Dr. Castro will join Dr. Rowley as a speaker on Monday, March 23 for the Coastal State Discussion Series to present ongoing work testing Dr. Rowley’s probiotic hypothesis to fight lobster shell disease that is thought to be linked to a new bacterium found in local waters. “The results showed promise for both the freshwater and the probiotic treatment,” Castro says.

 

Click here to find the full event details.

Aquaculture and Fisheries Technologies for Food and Health Educators, Seafood Professionals, and Communicators

Aquaculture and Fisheries Technologies for Food and Health Educators, Seafood Professionals, and Communicators (Aquaculture and Fish Tech 101)

Date: April 20-23, 2015
Location: Hotel Indigo New Orleans Garden District, 2203 St Charles Avenue New Orleans, Louisiana 70130

Aquaculture and Fish Tech 101 is a Sea Grant sponsored in-service seafood training program designed for food technologists, dieticians, nutritionists, extension agents (home economics, fisheries, aquaculture, seafood technology, food safety, etc.), seafood industry professionals (seafood buyers, distributors, retail personnel), journalists, restaurant managers, and anyone else with interest or involvement in the seafood industry. The workshop will provide information on current issues, developments and trends for fishery and aquaculture industries and products. Program content covers technical aspects of seafood health and safety from water to table. Seafood products from wild caught and aquaculture sources will be discussed from the following perspectives: nutrition, benefits and risks, food safety, quality and handling, harvest and production methods, processing, HACCP, sourcing, distribution and marketing. In addition to national issues, the program will also address topics of regional and local and interest for the Gulf Coast. Formats will include classroom lectures/seminars, local tours of production and processing facilities in support of aquaculture and fisheries industries, demonstrations of seafood handling and preparation.

The Gulf Coast workshop in New Orleans is the third regional program offered. The East Coast workshop held from April 7-10, 2014 in Lewes, Delaware was followed by the West Coast workshop in Astoria, Oregon, October 8-10, 2014.

For additional information about the 2015 Gulf Coast workshop and program, contact:

Doris Hicks
Seafood Technology Specialist
University of Delaware Sea Grant Marine Advisory Service
Phone: (302) 645-4297
Fax: (302) 645-4213
E-Mail: dhicks@udel.edu

or visit the workshop Website here.

Taking Stock of Currents and Quahogs

Shared on behalf of 41°N, Rhode Island’s Ocean and Coastal Magazine, a publication of Rhode Island Sea Grant and the Coastal Institute at the University of Rhode Island.

Author – Zoe Gentes

“Over 39 million clams were harvested from Narragansett Bay in 2012, supporting a $5.15 million commercial fishing industry, according to figures by Jeff Mercer, principal biologist in marine fisheries for the R.I> Department of Environmental Management (DEM).”

“The estimates of clams in the Bay are used to set fishing limits. In Rhode Island, commercial shellfishermen use a bull rake for harvesting clams. The DEM, however, uses a hydraulic dredge to collect clams for population estimates. Fisherman say that the dredging method of harvesting is inefficient and inaccurate, and is likely to result in unnecessary limits on the commercial fishing operations.”

Read the full article here!

The Secret Life of Whelks

Shared on behalf of 41°N, Rhode Island’s Ocean and Coastal Magazine, a publication of Rhode Island Sea Grant and the Coastal Institute at the University of Rhode Island.

by Rudi Hempe
Photos by Melissa Devine

“Underwater, whelks are slow moving sea snails that like to pry open and devour quahogs. They are also the unlikely focus of a campaign by an energetic woman who catches them for a living to protect her chosen occupation.”

“Katie Eagan is a whelk fisherman, or as she and most of the other 200 – plus whelk fishermen in Rhode Island prefer to call themselves, a “conch fisherman,” even though the larger and quite different conchs live in far warmer waters down South.”

“At age 30, Eagan has fallen in love with a job that requires her to get up at dawn seven days a week to cruise parts of Narragansett Bay harvesting creatures that end up on plates in Asia and in the popular “snail salad” state side.”

Check out the full article here

1 2