New York Sea Grant (NYSG) has allocated approximately $2.15 million to fund 10 research projects, with five based at Stony Brook University. These initiatives aim to address significant community, economic, and environmental challenges.
The projects span two years and are managed by NYSG, funded through the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Sea Grant’s federal parent agency. They cover various topics intended to benefit residents across New York's coastal areas.
One project titled "The Current and Future Impacts of Warming and Low Oxygen on the Sustainability of Shellfisheries Across New York" is led by Michael Doall and Christopher Gobler from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS). The research focuses on analyzing temperature and dissolved oxygen dynamics in New York estuaries to help shellfish managers prepare for future changes.
Another initiative aims to develop an ecosystem model for the Hudson River Estuary (HRE) and New York Bight (NYB). Led by Yong Chen, this project seeks to simulate ecosystem dynamics under climate change conditions. The model will support Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management.
A third project addresses flood risks in Jamaica Bay. Donovan Finn, Kevin Reed, and Christine Gilbert lead efforts to improve communication strategies between scientists, officials, and communities regarding climate risks. "With our project we hope to uncover some of the communication barriers that exist between climate scientists and public officials on the one hand, and the messages that communities hear related to climate change induced risk on the other hand," Finn said.
Kamazima Lwiza leads a study developing an AI-based tool for predicting hypoxia in Long Island Sound. This machine learning approach aims to enhance water quality predictions. “We envision developing an attention-based convolutional neural network transformer to improve seasonal prediction of hypoxia occurrence in Long Island Sound with a 3-6 month forecast range,” Lwiza stated.
Emmanuelle Pales Espinosa and Bassem Allam are investigating bay scallop Marosporida parasites' distribution dynamics. Their work includes evaluating disease persistence factors in scallop fisheries. “This project is expected to generate information needed to understand factors affecting disease dynamics in the bay scallop in New York fisheries," Pales Espinosa noted.
Other funded projects involve researchers from Hofstra University, Cornell University, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County, and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. These studies focus on educational curricula development, eDNA tools for water body surveys, native fish restoration benefits in Lake Ontario, LED light effects on crustacean fisheries pots, and impacts of invasive plants on Great Lakes fish like Northern pike.
This funding cycle marks NYSG's largest support effort for its biennial research initiatives.
New York Sea Grant operates as a cooperative program between Cornell University and SUNY under NOAA’s National Sea Grant College Program.