News

October 2016

Seeding Shinnecock Bay: High School science students seeded 42,000 clams

To do their part to help improve local waterways, high school Science Research students seeded 42,000 clams into Shinnecock Bay on Oct. 14.

The initiative, which connects learning to the local environment, was conducted in collaboration with the Shinnecock Bay Restoration Program. The program was established in 2012 to restore the water quality in the bay through a variety of partnerships.

This is the second time that Hampton Bays High School Science Research teacher Dr. Stephanie Forsberg has involved her students in the restoration program. Last year, approximately 40,000 clams were seeded into the bay by her class. 

See images

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July 9, 2016

United Nations group visits Stony Brook Southampton Marine Station

On Saturday July 9th, 2016, the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science was honored to welcome a group of United Nations ambassadors, dignitaries, and their families to the Stony Brook Southampton Marine Station for a tour of the facility and an overview of the Shinnecock Bay Restoration Program (ShiRP). Ten countries, including Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Fiji, Israel, Italy, Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Poland, and Vanuatu were represented.

These nations are part of the “10 x 20 Initiative”, which is aimed toward achieving the protection of 10% of the world’s oceans by the year 2020. This target is included in the Sustainable Development Goals—which were adopted by member states of the United Nations in September 2015. IOCS’s Executive Director, Dr. Ellen Pikitch, and Assistant Director for Policy and Outreach, Christine Santora, are involved in the 10 x 20 Initiative through their work with the Ocean Sanctuary Alliance (OSA).

The diplomats were welcomed by Dr. Matt Whelan, representing Stony Brook University’s Office of the President, and Dr. Larry Swanson, Dean of the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. Guests were given a tour of Stony Brook’s state-of-the art research laboratory by director Christopher Paparo and ShiRP PhD Student Andrew Griffith, who conversed with the group about current experiments, shellfish spawning, and how the scientific work done in the lab directly informs bay restoration. The diplomats also heard an overview ShiRP’s restoration goals and activities from Christine Santora, ShiRP’s program manager, and Dr. Konstantine Rountos, a Stony Brook University research scientist who has led ShiRP’s trawl survey and other fishery-related activities since the program’s inception.

A highlight of the study tour was a visit to the hard clam spawner sanctuaries in Shinnecock Bay -- areas where large amounts of adult hard clams have been placed in close proximity to one another to maximize population growth and reproduction. Spawner sanctuaries, a type of marine protected area (or MPA), are a conservation tool that can improve the water quality and shellfish populations of Shinnecock Bay. During the outing on the R/V Peconic, the success of the sanctuaries became apparent when samples taken just outside the protected area revealed small hard clams – offspring of the adult clams that had been placed in the hard clam sanctuaries. Diplomats also participated in deploying sampling gear, which revealed some of the fish and invertebrates resident in Shinnecock Bay, and learned how various species and habitats contribute to the bay’s ecological health and vibrancy. A summer flounder was tagged with an acoustic transmitter that allows ShiRP researchers to monitor migration patterns of this flagship fish species.

President-Elect of the United Nations General Assembly, H.E. Ambassador Peter Thomson of Fiji, reminded all that “We are One Ocean,” noting that the sediment in Shinnecock Bay looks, smells and feels just the same as the bay bottom he encountered as a child in Fiji. He praised the work of Stony Brook University's restoration program, citing it as a model for protecting marine areas, as is needed to safeguard our oceans and coastal areas for generations to come.

In March 2016, diplomats involved in the 10 x 20 Initiative gathered in Rome, along with scientists led by Dr. Pikitch, to create the Rome Call to Action -- a statement calling for more and robust use of MPAs. The 10 x 20 Initiative is chaired by Italy, with Vice-Chairs from The Bahamas, Palau, Poland, Kenya and the OSA.

See photos.

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Spring Summer 2016

ShiRP Co-PI Dr. Ellen Pikitch recently featured in Stony Brook Magazine

On a mild winter morning, Ellen Pikitch opens the sliding glass doors of her East Quogue home, strolls across her back lawn and gazes over her proximate study area, Long Island's Shinnecock Bay. A professor at Stony Brook's School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) and the executive director of the school's Institute for Ocean Conservation Science, Pikitch studies the fisheries ecology of the 9,000-acre bay. But her ultimate zone of influence is global. For more than four decades, Pikitch has been working to save the planet's oceans from the twin threats of overfishing and pollution. She is perhaps uniquely positioned — by temperament and by training — to address these challenges on both the hyperlocal and the global stage, where she has gracefully assumed the role of a traveling expert on fisheries management.