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Feature Articles
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Research grants to NOAA, CT, NY
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Looking for reasons for LIS lobster die-off
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This article is reprinted with permission of Commercial Fisheries News, the Northeast's fishing newspaper for over 30 years, ©2003 Compass Publications Inc. Commercial Fisheries News is published monthly; annual subscriptions are $21.95. To subscribe or request a sample issue: call (877) 263-4496; fax (207) 367-2490; e-mail (cfoster@fish-news.com); or click on the hot link.
WASHINGTON DC - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the National Sea Grant College Program have announced the awarding of $3.5 million in federal research grants to 14 science research teams in seven states. The purpose of the grants is to determine the causes behind the 1999-2000 winter die-off of the Long Island Sound lobster resource.
The research is jointly funded under the Long Island Sound Lobster Initiative, an endeavor of Sea Grant programs in Connecticut and New York, along with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and NMFS Northeast Fisheries Science Center.
The Long Island Sound Lobster Initiative was formed after Congress appropriated $6.6 million in federal funds in July 2000 to research the scientific and economic impacts of the die-off.
Congress directed that approximately $3.5 million of those federal funds be dedicated for research investigating potential causes.
An additional $3.1 million in federal research funds was directed to the states of Connecticut and New York for lobster resource monitoring and assessment.
In addition to the 14 grants, NMFS and the Connecticut DEP are each sponsoring three other research projects. The NMFS projects are funded with approximately $900,000 of the federal money, and the DEP's projects are supported by $1 million from Connecticut's Long Island Sound Research Fund.
Connecticut and New York Sea Grant received $165,000 each in federal funding to facilitate communication of the research findings to lobstermen, resource managers, and the public.
Additional portions of the federal money will be used to help mitigate the economic impacts on affected lobster fishermen (see story below). Other collaborators include representatives of Long Island Sound lobster fishing organizations and the US Environmental Protection Agency.
The awards resulted from a national competition of research projects to investigate the causes of mortality and shell disease in Long Island Sound lobsters.
The funded research will investigate many different factors on an ecosystem-wide basis. These include: disease-causing organisms; pesticides; pollution; lobster crowding; water quality conditions, including elevated temperatures and changes in salinity; and environmental conditions such as storm events.
The selections were finalized by the Long Island Sound Lobster Research Steering Committee, a group composed of scientists, fishery managers, federal and state regulators, and representatives from the lobster fishing industry.
"These research projects represent the best of a national peer-reviewed competition to address an issue of fundamental concern to our nation's ability to ensure sustainable management of one of our most valuable fisheries," said NOAA's National Sea Grant Program Director Ronald Baird.
New York Sea Grant Lobster Outreach Specialist Antoinette Clemetson will team with Connecticut Sea Grant Extension Leader Nancy Balcom and the communication staffs of the two Sea Grant programs to keep the lines of communications open between participating scientists and lobstermen, resource managers, and the public through a series of newsletter updates, web sites, briefings, and workshops coordinated between the two state Sea Grant programs.
CT Sea Grant
The following is a list of funded projects that will be administered by Connecticut Sea Grant.
- "Stress Indicators in Lobsters: Hormones and Heat Shock Proteins" - Ernest S. Chang, Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California Davis. Two-year funding: $170,115 (Sea Grant). Matching funds: $155,197.
- "Development of Assays for the Evaluation of Immune Functions of the American Lobster as a Tool for Health Assessment" - Sylvain DeGuise, Richard A. French, and Salvatore Frasca Jr., University of Connecticut. Two-year funding: $198,271 (Sea Grant). Matching funds: $67,734.
- "Determination of the Toxicity and Sublethal Effects of Selected Pesticides on the American Lobster (Homarus americanus)" - Sylvain De Guise, Richard A. French, and Christopher Perkins, University of Connecticut. Two-year funding: $140,000 (Sea Grant). Matching funds: $70,201.
- "Phenotypic and Molecular Identification of Environmental Specimens of the Genus Paramoeba Associated with Lobster Mortality Events" - Patrick M. Gillevet, George Mason University, Fairfax VA. Two-year funding: $299,761 (Sea Grant). Matching funds: $100,477.
- "Acute Effects of Methoprene on Survival, Cuticular Morphogenesis, and Shell Biosynthesis in the American Lobster (Homarus americanus)" - Michael N. Horst, Mercer University School of Medicine, Macon, GA and numerous co-investigators. Two-year funding: $230,000 (Sea Grant). Matching funds: $100,000.
- "Oligonucleotide-based Detection of Pathogenic Paramoeba Species" - Rebecca J. Gast, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA. Two-year funding: $113,587 (Sea Grant). Matching funds: $37,681.
NY Sea Grant
The following is a list of funded projects that will be administered by New York Sea Grant.
- "Relationship Between American Lobster Mortality in Long Island Sound and Prevailing Water Column Conditions" - Robert E. Wilson, R. Lawrence Swanson, and Duane E. Waliser, Marine Sciences Research Center, Stony Brook University. Two-year funding totals: $135,835 (Sea Grant). Matching funds: $48,965.
- "Effects of Temperature and Body Size on Metabolic Stress in Long Island Sound Lobsters" - Glenn, Lopez and Robert M. Cerrato, Marine Sciences Research Center, Stony Brook University. Two-year funding totals: $189,514 (Sea Grant). Matching funds $68,002.
- "Effects of Pesticides of Lobster Health: Trace Level Measurements and Toxicological Assessment at Environmentally Realistic Concentrations" - Anne E. McElroy, Marine Sciences Research Center, Stony Brook University. Two-year funding total: $200,031 (Sea Grant). Matching funds: $69,436.
- "Development of an Assay for Phagocytic Activity in the Immune System of Lobsters" - Jan Factor, Division of Natural Sciences, State University of New York, Purchase. Two-year funding totals: $156,968 (Sea Grant). Matching funds: $91,609.
- "Immunological Health of Lobsters: Assays and Applications" - Robert S. Anderson, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, Center for Environmental Sciences, University of Maryland. Two-year funding totals: $215,614 (Sea Grant). Matching funds: $100,585.
- "Bacterial Assemblages Involved in the Development and Progression of Shell Disease in the American Lobster, Homarus americanus" - Andrei Chistoserdov, Marine Sciences Research Center, Stony Brook University. Two-year funding totals: $238,117 (Sea Grant). Matching funds: $100,903.
NMFS projects
The following is a list of funded projects that will be administered by NMFS.
- "Exposure of Lobsters to the Varied Chemical and Biological Environment of Long Island Sound" - Anthony Paulson, NOAA Fisheries, Howard Laboratory, Sandy Hook, NJ. Two-year funding totals: $310,000 (NOAA/NMFS).
- "Effects of Environmental Stressors on Disease Susceptibility in Lobsters: A Controlled Laboratory Study - Richard Robolm, NOAA Fisheries Laboratory, Milford, CT. Two-year funding: $301,735 (NOAA/NMFS).
- A third NOAA Fisheries project will be funded at a later date. For more Information contact the following people:
- Connecticut Sea Grant - Nancy Balcom, extension program leader, (860) 405-9107; and
- New York Sea Grant - Antoinette Clemetson, Sea Grant lobster outreach specialist, (631) 727-3910.
At last! CT lobstermen receive LIS aid checks
by Ann Kane Rheault
HARTFORD, CT - Some Connecticut lobstermen who suffered financial losses from the disastrous lobster mortalities in Long Island Sound have finally received compensation checks.
Phil Smith, director of federal programs at the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, said that, as of June 15, more than $2 million had been distributed to over 70 lobstermen.
Connecticut received $3.45 million in direct aid from the federal government for eligible fishermen who lost income in 1999 compared to 1998.
Smith said that the logbook information provided by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection had sped the distribution process considerably, but that some fishermen have still not submitted the required paperwork.
Meanwhile, across the sound in New York, fishermen and others who have applied for compensation were still waiting at press time in late June for the New York spending plan to clear the federal review process.
But Maura Gallucci of Empire State Development (ESD) said she was "still very optimistic" that funds would be issued in early July.
Gallucci added that ESD has received "around 100 completed applications and about (an additional) dozenrequests for application forms so far."
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