Maryland Marine Notes: March-April 2001 Article

Volume 19, Number 2 • March-April 2001

Noteworthy

Maryland Students Are NMFS Fellows • Play the Bay Game • Honors
New Scholarship in Marine Science • Bald Eagles Thriving

Maryland Students Are NMFS Fellows

Two marine science students from the University of Maryland have been awarded fellowships from the National Marine Fisheries Service and Sea Grant.

The first fellowship goes to Michael Price, of the University of Maryland, College Park, in the area of marine resource economics. He will be working with Michael Prager, at the NMFS Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) in Beaufort, North Carolina and with Harold Pratt at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Narragansett, Rhode Island. Price's major professor is Kenneth McConnell of the Agriculture and Resource Economics Department at College Park.

The second fellowship goes to Michael Frisk of the UMCES Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, in the area of population dynamics. He will be working with James Waters, at the SEFSC in Beaufort. His major professor is Thomas Miller, of CBL.

The NMFS/Sea Grant fellowships were awarded based on a rigorous national competition.

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Play the Bay Game

To help children pass the time while learning something on the long car ride to Maryland and Delaware ocean beaches this summer, ask for a free copy of the "Bay Game" at Chesapeake Bay Bridge toll booths. This fun and educational activity, created by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, uses a map marked with locations along the journey to teach about Bay ecology and how to protect its resources. This year, there is also a new online "Bay Game for the Millennium" at www.dnr.state.md.us/baygame/ to complement the road game with additional information and interactive activities.

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Honors

Chesapeake Biological Laboratory professor Ed Houde received the Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Public Service at the Board of Regents meeting in April. He was the first UMCES faculty member to receive one of the prestigious awards. He was chosen for the award, says UMCES President Donald Boesch, "because he has devoted much of his career to advocating for the sound management of fishery resources and is recognized for his contributions not only in Maryland, but throughout the region and the nation."

"A fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Houde has played a major role in changing the paradigm of fishery management from one that maximizes harvest to the point of species depletion to one that stresses conservation," adds Boesch. This research led legislators to include a commitment to multi-species management in their historic Chesapeake 2000 Agreement.

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New Scholarship in Marine Science

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently announced the Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship Program to recognize outstanding scholarship and encourage independent graduate-level research - particularly by female and minority students - in oceanography, marine biology and maritime archaeology. Congress authorized the program soon after Foster's death in June 2000 as a means of honoring her life's work and contribution to the nation. The program is administered through NOAA's National Ocean Service and funded annually with one percent of the amount appropriated each fiscal year to carry out the National Marine Sanctuaries Act.

Foster, the former assistant administrator for Ocean Services and Coastal Zone Management at NOAA and Director of the National Ocean Service, was a marine biologist known for her science-based conservation of coastal aquatic life. She was also respected throughout her career as a personal supporter of mentoring, a champion of diversity and an advocate of fair and equal treatment of all people in the workplace.

Applications are currently being solicited for the Foster Scholarships that carry a $16,800 yearly stipend and an annual cost-of-education allowance of up to $12,000. Masters students may be supported for up to two years and doctoral students for up to four years. For fiscal year 2001, approximately five scholarships will be awarded. The original deadline of April 22, 2001 has been extended for at least 30 additional days. For more information and the exact deadline, visit the web at www.fosterscholars.noaa.gov

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Bald Eagles Thriving

Bald eagle populations have reached a twenty-three year high in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, according to data released in March by the Chesapeake Bay Program. For the first time since the 1940s an active nest with a fledgling has been recorded in the District of Columbia. Results from the annual Baywide bald eagle population count show increased numbers residing throughout the Bay watershed, with 533 active nests fledgling 813 eaglets - nearly a ten percent increase from the previous year.

"Improvements in overall water quality and targeted bald eagle restoration efforts undertaken over the past two decades have brought the species from the edge of extinction to a viable population within the Bay watershed," said Chesapeake Bay Program Living Resources Subcommittee Chairman Frank Dawson.

For more information about the resurgence of the Chesapeake Bay bald eagle, visit the Chesapeake Bay Program online Press Center at www.chesapeakebay.net/press.htm.

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