Significant Impacts, 2020

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Maryland Sea Grant is making a difference.

Maryland Sea Grant projects have produced significant results that aided fishers, businesses, policy makers, and conservation volunteers in Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay region.

Here are highlights of our program's impacts and accomplishments in 2020. These summaries describe scientific research; extension and public outreach; and education and communications efforts.

The highlights are grouped by these four broad focus areas in Maryland Sea Grant's strategic plan:

A cornerstone of our program is to continually evaluate and report on the real-world impacts of our projects. These projects are drawn from our annual report for 2020 to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (NOAA), one of our major funders. You can read our reports about our impacts and accomplishments in years before 2020 in a searchable database (scroll down) at NOAA's National Sea Grant College program.

 

Healthy Coastal Ecosystems

Maryland Sea Grant Extension Specialists Incorporate Stakeholder Voices into the Conowingo Watershed Implementation Plan. Working with community members, two Maryland Sea Grant Extension Specialists who work in water quality facilitated workshops to help determine regional needs and wants for an extensive plan to protect a northern Maryland watershed. To learn more...

Maryland Sea Grant Extension Faculty Move Watershed Stewards Academy Program Online and Expand Counties’ Capacity in Water Quality Training. Educators had to postpone many courses due to COVID in 2020. But Maryland Sea Grant/University of Maryland Extension faculty Jackie Takacs and UME’s Nicole Basenback began a new Watershed Stewards Academy online. Takacs even secured new county funding, split between Calvert and St. Mary’s counties in Southern Maryland, for Basenback to work full-time on water-quality projects including WSA programming. To learn more...

 

Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture

High and Dry: Maryland Sea Grant Extension Program studies desiccation methods to reduce oyster gear biofouling. Since Maryland laws changed about a decade ago to encourage more oyster aquaculture, cost remains a primary barrier to entry. Biofouling, the unwanted accumulation on surfaces of marine organisms such as barnacles and algae, increases these costs by adding weight to farm infrastructure. Maryland Sea Grant Extension taught farmers how to mitigate biofouling and produced a biofouling reference manual which led to reduced oyster aquaculture production costs. To learn more...

Adapt and Advance: Maryland Sea Grant Extension Specialists Help Build Aquaculture Industry Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Oyster businesses were hit hard in the pandemic, and Maryland Sea Grant stepped in to help. One program enabled Maryland growers to avoid major layoffs, creating a new market for larger oysters. A shellfish conference that usually welcomes 125 attendees drew 300 attendees in virtual form. One specialist helped three applicants secure $270,000 in loans for their shellfish farms. Our Shuck-at-Home videos series to educate consumers on how to shuck and prepare raw and cooked oysters at home. To learn more...

Going With the Flow: Helping Oyster Growers Maximize Their Product by Monitoring Water Flow and Movement in Aquaculture Gear. Oyster farmers need water to flow through the cages to feed the bivalves. For the past two years, Maryland Sea Grant Fellow and PhD student Brendan Campbell has been developing water flow and movement. The clod card—a small ball made of plaster of Paris and distilled water—is suspended in oyster gear. As water moves across it, the card dissolves at a linear rate, providing data on the amount of water moving through the gear. Attaching an off-the-shelf, $85 accelerometer into an empty oyster shell and installing it in the gear tells how much oysters are jostled or moved by water flow. To learn more...

They Are What They Eat: New Genomic Tools Help Define the Relationship Between Zooplankton Prey Quality and Fish Recruitment. MDSG-supported researchers doing genomic meta-barcoding to identify zooplankton species, as well as the contents of larval fish guts, in samples from the Choptank River. The work will help scientists and managers better understand the key relationship between zooplankton type, abundance, and diversity and fish recruitment. To learn more...

Assessing Oyster Feces’ Effects on Water and Sediment. While oysters’ filter-feeding ability to clean water is well understood, researchers know little about the effects of what are collectively called biodeposits—oyster feces and pseudofeces (particles of grit and other matter that oysters ingest, which are expelled without going through the digestive tract). Better understanding of these biodeposits’ effects in the water column and in bottom sediment will provide new data to more accurately evaluate the use of oysters as a water quality best management practice as well as inform siting of aquaculture projects. Maryland Sea Grant-supported researchers to examine how oyster feces and pseudofeces affect the biogeochemistry and sediment beneath aquaculture sites both in the water column and on the seabed. To learn more...

Fish Out of Water: Growing U.S. Production of Land-Based Atlantic Salmon Aquaculture. About 90 percent of American seafood is imported, but only about half of it is farmed. Researchers estimate that by 2050 twice the current supply will be needed, and depleted wild stocks cannot fill the demand. MDSG and a group of collaborators are developing a ‘roadmap’ to advance domestic, land-based Atlantic salmon production through recirculating aquaculture systems in the United States to help reduce pressure facing wild salmon stocks. To learn more...

Pass the (Low) Salt: Maryland Sea Grant Works With Morgan State University to Produce Brood Stock in Lower Salinities. Maryland Sea Grant helped support an oyster geneticist develop brood stock oysters that thrive in low-salinity waters and will help advance oyster aquaculture and restoration in Maryland, which generally has a lower salinity than Virginia. Much of the brood stock has come from Virginia historically.  To learn more...

 

Resilient Communities and Economies

Maryland Sea Grant Extension Builds Capacity to Expand Understanding of Climate Change. About 70 percent of Marylanders live in a coastal county, where they grapple with occasional flooding and other climate change impacts. MDSG provided climate change training to 25 University of Maryland Extension agents. More than half of the agents reported they are extremely likely to add climate change information to their stakeholder outreach efforts, thus greatly amplifying the reach of Sea Grant’s climate change training. To learn more...

The Marsh Resilience Summit Special Feature brings Worldwide Attention to Maryland and Virginia Tidal Wetlands. In 2019, Maryland Sea Grant co-hosted a Marsh Resilience Summit. A key impact from the summit was a special feature in the peer-reviewed journal “Wetlands.” The special feature, now published and advancing tidal marsh science, included ten publications on different aspects of marsh resilience in coastal Maryland and Virginia first presented at the summit. To learn more...

Workshop on Vertical Land Motion in the Chesapeake Bay Determines New Strategies to Plan for Sea Level Rise. The coastal CB region is vulnerable to one of the highest rates of sea level rise in the United States–putting its residents, infrastructure, and ecosystems increasingly at risk of chronic flooding and inundation. Accurately determining rates of vertical land motion across the Mid-Atlantic region could contribute to better predictions of local variation in relative sea level rise. MDSG was awarded National Science Foundation Coastlines and People funding to lead a workshop to discuss processes contributing to Vertical Land Motion in the Chesapeake Bay and how those estimates may affect predictions around the region. To learn more...

Refining Resilience: Assessing Indicators for Adapting to Climate Change. In an effort to help Chesapeake Bay communities respond to climate change, Maryland Sea Grant-supported researchers worked with stakeholders to develop a science-based framework for measuring resilience. Three meetings with stakeholders helped the researchers develop a shared understanding of resilience and identifying indicators that would help assess an adaptation’s usefulness community-wide, rather than in a single place or project. They reviewed 273 geographic- and topic-relevant documents to identify existing concepts and implementation of resilience research in Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Eastern Shore. This review aimed to navigate the diverse information landscape surrounding climate change adaption in Maryland to provide a data-based foundation for assessing resilience indicators and adaptations. To learn more...

 

Effective Environmental Science Education

Maryland Sea Grant Broadens Student Opportunities With Community-Engaged Internship Program: A new program designed to engage undergraduate students from underrepresented and indigenous communities allows Maryland Sea Grant (MDSG) to hire a summer multimedia intern to produce a range of communications materials focused on local ecology and community outreach.  To learn more...

Maryland Sea Grant Examines and Improves its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts: MDSG employees formulated a strategy to examine MDSG’s policies, procedures, and cultural norms to determine methods to foster a more inclusive environment and encourage underrepresented groups to apply for positions and fellowships. Staff developed a document that included five areas: office practices, fellowships and internships, hiring and training, a website statement, and Extension work. To achieve maximum input, MDSG developed a diversity, equity and inclusion committee comprised of staff members who engaged in these efforts as part of their regular duties. To learn more...

Maryland Sea Grant COVID-19 Response: Curriculum Writing Workshops to Develop and Enhance Online Education Instructional Strategies. Due to COVID-19, MDSG shifted to online instruction, developing teacher professional development workshops to advance K-12 online instructional strategies and strengthen project-based learning. MDSG, along with teachers, produced ten 5E model lessons and supporting project-based learning resources. To learn more...

Maryland Sea Grant Teams up with International Partners to Develop Massive Open Online Courses for the VIRTUE-s Project: Through an international partnership, more than 80 students from Sweden, Germany, and Spain; and 350 teachers from European nations participated in two different Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) that shared instructional strategies and teaching resources developed during the VIRTUE-s Project. Maryland Sea Grant integrated its long-running biofilms and biodiversity education program within both MOOCs and participated in development, delivery mechanisms, and direct instruction of each course. To learn more...

Maryland Sea Grant Supports Career-Building Fellowships for Graduate Students. MDSG sponsors graduate fellowship programs that train qualified students in marine science through participation in research and policy activities. In 2020, 14 students received support to conduct research projects at five Maryland institutions, and five students were placed in federal offices as Knauss Marine Policy Fellows. To learn more...

Reimagining Undergraduate Professional Development Programs in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Maryland Sea Grant developed a new, virtual undergraduate professional development curriculum that provided nine rising juniors and seniors with skills and experiences to prepare for graduate school and post-graduate STEM jobs. To learn more...

 

Project Details

Healthy Coastal Ecosystems

Title: Maryland Sea Grant Extension Specialists Incorporate Stakeholder Voices into the Conowingo Watershed Implementation Plan

Partners: Chesapeake Bay Program, Center for Watershed Protection, Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology, Natural Resources Conservation Service

Recap: Maryland Sea Grant Extension Specialists gave stakeholders significant voice on a draft Watershed Implementation Plan to reduce pollution entering the Chesapeake Bay.

Relevance: In 2010, the Chesapeake Bay Program established a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the Chesapeake Bay watershed that required the six regional jurisdictions to develop watershed implementation plans to reduce pollution entering the Bay. At the time, regulators believed the 9,000-acre reservoir behind the Susquehanna River’s Conowingo Dam—the last dam before the largest Chesapeake tributary reaches the Bay—had adequate capacity to trap sediment and nutrients from upstream that would otherwise enter the estuary. Following a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Maryland Department of the Environment study, the EPA concluded that the Bay jurisdictions would need to adjust their plans to account for additional pollutant loads entering the Chesapeake from land uses in the Susquehanna River basin that were no longer being trapped behind the Conowingo dam. Rather than assign this task to any one entity, regulators declared it a shared jurisdictional responsibility and initiated development of the Conowingo Watershed Implementation Plan (CWIP). This plan includes sections of three Maryland counties within the Susquehanna’s watershed.

Response: To assess a draft strategy to reduce the nitrogen and phosphorus flowing into the Susquehanna, Maryland Sea Grant extension specialists Eric Buehl and Kelsey Brooks teamed up with the Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology, the Center for Watershed Protection, and the Chesapeake Conservancy to facilitate workshops with stakeholders from Cecil, Harford, and Baltimore counties. Part of the specialists’ role was to determine which of the draft plan’s agricultural and urban best management practices were most feasible for stakeholders. Brooks and Buehl coordinated their efforts with project partners engaged in similar work with Pennsylvania and New York communities.

Results: Under COVID restrictions, Brooks and Buehl facilitated five virtual workshops with 42 total participants who could ask questions and make comments through a public portal about development of the CWIP. The workshop results were presented to the CWIP steering committee consisting of members from the jurisdictions, the Bay Commission, and other partners working on aligned CWIP efforts, such as a financing team exploring strategies to fund CWIP implementation. This process resulted in meaningful incorporation of stakeholder feedback in developing the CWIP’s draft reduction strategies. Stakeholder input, combined with the pollution-reduction computer modeling and cost estimates, will help Bay Program partners complete the CWIP, with the goal to have the final plan approved in 2021.

 

Title: Maryland Sea Grant Extension Faculty Move Watershed Stewards Academy Program Online and Expand Counties’ Capacity in Water Quality Training

Partners: Calvert County, St. Mary's County

Recap: Maryland Sea Grant/University of Maryland Extension (UME) faculty Jackie Takacs and UME’s Nicole Basenback began a new Watershed Stewards Academy (WSA) online resulting in high participation and successful project planning despite remote-work challenges. Takacs secured new county funding, split between Calvert and St. Mary’s counties in Southern Maryland, for Basenback to work full-time on water-quality projects including WSA programming.

Relevance: Many courses, especially those with a strong outdoor learning component, were postponed in 2020 due to statewide pandemic restrictions on gathering and social distancing. That was a challenge with hands-on learning in the WSAs, which often involve outdoor projects and working closely in teams.

Response: Unlike other courses that had to move online mid-year, the Calvert County WSA began entirely online. Traditionally a program that includes hands-on classes and site visits, the virtual program created by Takacs and Basenback used a flipped-classroom format to keep students engaged. They constructed an interactive website for students to do pre-class, asynchronous work and post-synchronous homework assignments. Live virtual sessions allowed them to bring in guest speakers who otherwise wouldn’t be able to share their expertise due to time and distance. To give students the hands-on experience, at home lab kits were developed, mailed, and completed as a class virtually.

Results: Ten students enrolled in the academy and met every other week for 15 online instruction and discussion sessions. A steward-initiated study group began meeting on alternate weeks to work on group projects and homework assignments. The online platform even enabled a “weekend” resident to participate in the program. One steward was asked to join a local flood and sea-level rise working group, and the stewards identified four stormwater best management practices to implement in summer/fall of 2021 as their capstone projects. These projects will help address stormwater flooding, divert nutrient and sediment pollution from local waterways, and serve as demonstrations for community members to learn more about actions they can take on their own properties. Each project will be tracked through the pollution reduction metrics used to support local Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permitting. To maintain certification after completing the course, stewards will volunteer as “boots-on-the-ground” resources in their communities. The program impacted the ten students by allowing them to begin training to be Watershed Stewards during the pandemic by doing their training virtually. Impacts included certifying 9 new Watershed Stewards and installing a rain garden to remove nitrogen, phosphorous and total suspended solids from entering surface waters. Further, Calvert and St. Mary’s counties in Southern Maryland acknowledged the high value of the WSA program by securing new county funds to support a full time watershed specialist, Nicole Basenback, which will allow the WSA and other water quality training and community engagement to expand in the county and add capacity to the Maryland Sea Grant extension program’s watershed specialists.

 

 

Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture

 

Title: High and Dry: Maryland Sea Grant Extension Program studies desiccation methods to reduce oyster gear biofouling.

Partners: University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) Horn Point Laboratory, Honga Oyster Company, Madhouse Oysters, Orchard Point Oyster Company

Recap: Maryland Sea Grant Extension taught farmers how to mitigate biofouling on oyster aquaculture gear and cages and produced a biofouling reference manual which led to reduced oyster aquaculture production costs.

Relevance: Since Maryland laws changed about a decade ago to encourage more oyster aquaculture, farming has grown, but cost remains a primary barrier to entry. Biofouling, the unwanted accumulation on surfaces of marine organisms such as barnacles and algae, increases these costs by adding weight to farm infrastructure, leading to broken lines and requiring costly repairs. It can also reduce water flow through oyster cage wire mesh, creating subpar growing conditions, and diminishing oyster quality, thus affecting marketability. Addressing oyster equipment biofouling is estimated to add 5-10 percent to production costs. As farmers spend time, money, and effort combating the challenges caused by biofouling, their productivity suffers. Desiccation, or periodic aerial exposure, can significantly reduce biofouling and has become a common industry practice. However, the long (24-hour) duration of exposure has been associated with slower growth and increased mortality. Oyster growers routinely request information on biofouling control strategies that can be applied on a commercial scale without adding undue labor demands or affecting oyster fitness.

Response: MDSG Associate Agent Shannon Hood, based at UMCES Horn Point Laboratory, worked - under COVID restrictions - at four Chesapeake Bay sites across a range of environmental conditions to investigate the effectiveness of various desiccation intervals to control biofouling on oyster aquaculture gear. The project also examined the effects of desiccation on oyster fitness (growth and mortality). Information on biofouling was presented at workshops to oyster farmers to increase their understanding of the problem. 

Results: The research conducted by Hood provided a comprehensive understanding of the implications of various desiccation intervals to oyster farm productivity and impacted how the oyster industry uses these desiccation techniques to decrease biofouling and increase profits. This project’s impact was to help four new oyster farmers enter the industry based on information they learned from workshops, which proposed practical action farmers could take to address biofouling. In addition, six existing oyster growers adopted new technologies or modified existing practices based on what they learned from Hood’s workshops and during one on one conversations with her. Ten prospective oyster farmers toured the Horn Point facility and plan to pursue oyster farming using Hood’s biofouling reduction techniques. The published report, Biofouling Control Strategies: A Field Guide for Maryland Oyster Growers, is used by growers in Maryland and beyond to make management decisions on crop maintenance to improve farm profits.

 

Title: Adapt and Advance: Maryland Sea Grant Extension Specialists Help Build Aquaculture Industry Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Partners: Chesapeake Bay Foundation, EcoLogix Group, Fraunhofer USA Center for Experimental Software Engineering, Hoopers Island Oyster Company, Louisiana State University (LSU), Madhouse Oysters, Maritime Applied Physics, Maryland Agricultural & Resource-Based Industry Development Corp (MARBIDCO), Pacific Shellfish Institute, Pew Charitable Trusts, Ruff n Ready Crabhouse, Solar Oyster LLC, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), Virginia Tech University

Recap: Maryland Sea Grant Extension agents pivot programming to help oyster farmers remain viable despite the collapse of oyster markets during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Relevance: Oyster aquaculture is important for the biodiversity and water quality of the Chesapeake Bay and for the economic sustainability of coastal communities. Maryland Sea Grant, along with many partners, works to help oyster farmers build an industry in the state. Importantly, many entrepreneurs do not have the staff to write grants or focus on marketing and need assistance. Many oyster farms saw their business revenue plunge during the COVID-19 pandemic as their major market, restaurants, closed or switched to carry out only. In addition, because of consumer preference to eat oysters shucked in a restaurant, consumers are reluctant to buy whole oysters to shuck at home. This dramatic shock to the industry required the Maryland Sea Grant Extension Program (MDSGEP) to pivot their programming to help the industry adapt and advance under the severe disruptions caused by a pandemic.

Response: Despite the pandemic, MARBIDCO, the state’s agriculture loan program, and MDSGEP specialist Matt Parker continued to help farmers secure loans to advance oyster operations, while other MDSGEP specialists provided well-established programing to continue to assist oyster farmers to site farms, develop techniques to improve the quality of oyster growth, and lessen labor costs. This included working with several companies who are exploring the use of a solar oyster barge test platform. In response to the pandemic and the resulting restaurant closures, MDSGEP’s Shannon Hood and Matt Parker recorded short shuck-at-home videos, which were produced and shared on social media by the MDSG communications staff. The communications staff also wrote stories describing where customers could order oysters, with links to the shucking videos. Further, to help the industry adapt to lost sales during the pandemic, Webster and Parker worked with The Nature Conservancy and Pew Charitable Trusts to include Maryland as one of the seven Atlantic coastal states to participate in the Supporting Oyster Aquaculture and Restoration (SOAR) program. This program purchases oysters that restaurants are no longer buying and places them on oyster bars adjacent to aquaculture farms. MDSG’s Extension specialists also pivoted to run the annual Shellfish Aquaculture Conference as a virtual event in cooperation with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. MDSGEP’s extension agents continued to pursue research grant opportunities in oyster aquaculture to help strengthen the industry.

Results: Several important impacts resulted from action taken by MDSGEP staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. First, the SOAR program enabled 21 Maryland growers to avoid major layoffs as it created a new market for larger oysters. Second, the shellfish conference which usually welcomes 125 attendees, in virtual form drew 300 attendees from five countries impacting more growers who gained further knowledge about oyster aquaculture. Third, MDSGEP’s Parker helped three applicants secure loans of $270,000 for their shellfish farms. Fourth, the Shuck-at-Home videos series to educate consumers on how to shuck and prepare raw and cooked oysters at home had broad reach and engagement. Videos had over 5200 views with over 100 hours of watch time. Videos had double the average viewer percentage (56.5%) of MDSG’s video channel with rates as high as 68% for episodes: 2 - using a freezer as an oyster shucking tool; and 7 - shucking Chesapeake-style. Fifth, MDSGEP’s Don Webster, Cathy Liu and Matt Parker were part of a team to obtain a five-year, $10 million grant from USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop sophisticated location technology and robotics for advancing on-bottom oyster aquaculture.

 

Title: Going With the Flow: Helping Oyster Growers Maximize Their Product by Monitoring Water Flow and Movement in Aquaculture Gear

Recap: A Maryland Sea Grant fellow is developing inexpensive tools to help oyster growers measure the movement of water in their cages and gear, providing data that will help them optimize oyster growth and quality.

Relevance: Growing the oyster aquaculture industry in Maryland is a high priority. Wild populations of the Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) have diminished due to disease, overharvesting, habitat loss, and poor water quality. Oyster aquaculture can introduce more of the filter-feeding bivalves into the Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Bays. Oyster farms can improve water quality and provide watermen a viable economic option to the dwindling wild harvest. As of December 2020, there were 486 active shellfish leases in Maryland’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Bays, comprising 7,539 acres. Research has shown that the rate and character of water movement will affect an oyster’s shape, growth rate, and meat quality. Scientists still need to better understand how water flow from current, tides, and wave motion in oyster gear—bags and cages—impacts oyster growth. Finding affordable, efficient methods for oyster farmers to monitor water flow and movement can help them optimize production and, in turn, help grow oyster aquaculture.

Response: For the past two years, Maryland Sea Grant Fellow and PhD student Brendan Campbell has been developing water flow and movement tools and testing them at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s Horn Point Laboratory. The clod card—a small ball made of plaster of Paris and distilled water—is suspended in oyster gear. As water moves across it, the card dissolves at a linear rate, providing data on the amount of water moving through the gear. Attaching an off-the-shelf, $85 accelerometer into an empty oyster shell and installing it in the gear also provides data on how much oysters are jostled or moved by water flow. COVID-19 restrictions prevented Campbell from carrying out a full-scale assessment of these tools on a working oyster farm in 2020; however, he plans to conduct that research in 2021 in a subset of 20-30 cages on a commercial farm of approximately 500 cages near Solomons, Maryland.

Results: Once these tools are field tested and made available, they will help farmers continually monitor water movement in their gear at low cost, and change their grow-out depth or location accordingly. Campbell is also working to quantify how various water movement rates will produce certain types of oyster growth. He is also seeking a way to Bluetooth-enable the accelerometers, so that farmers can access the data remotely.

 

Title: They Are What They Eat: New Genomic Tools Help Define the Relationship Between Zooplankton Prey Quality and Fish Recruitment.

Partners: Chesapeake College

Recap: Maryland Sea Grant-supported researchers used the novel method of genomic meta-barcoding to more precisely identify zooplankton, as well as the contents of larval fish guts, in samples from the Choptank River. The work will help scientists and managers better understand the key relationship between zooplankton type, abundance, and diversity and fish recruitment.

Relevance: Zooplankton are a foundation of the Chesapeake Bay’s food webs. These mostly microscopic animals are a vital food source for larval fish (though fish larvae themselves are considered plankton at this stage of their lives). Yet, despite their importance to the growth and recruitment of species such as striped bass, scientists face challenges in understanding the relationship between zooplankton diversity and fish productivity. Identifying zooplankton species can be difficult and time consuming, as is understanding which are the highest quality and most frequently chosen prey among different larval fish, and how environmental factors—such as water quality and effects of climate change—influence zooplankton abundance and diversity. Finding a more efficient way to accurately identify zooplankton to assess diversity and abundance, as well as learning which fish are eating what zooplankton and when, can help fisheries managers better understand the key relationship between zooplankton and fish recruitment. 

Response: Between April and September over two years, researchers—including a Sea Grant Fellow and five undergraduates from Chesapeake College—took zooplankton and larval fish samples at three Choptank River sites near Maryland Department of Natural Resources water quality monitoring stations. They extracted 52 zooplankton DNA samples and analyzed them via genomic metabarcoding, through which multiple species in a single sample can be genetically identified based on their unique DNA sequences. Researchers identified as many as 347 distinct taxa, including so-called cryptic species—those that look identical but are genetically different. Researchers also compared novel metabarcoding to traditional morphological species identification in terms of time, cost, and accuracy. The next step—using metabarcoding to precisely analyze larval fish gut contents and help determine feeding selectivity—is underway (COVID-19 restrictions delayed this research in 2020).

Result: The comparison of identification methods found that while both showed about the same taxonomic resolution, metabarcoding resulted in more identification to the species level than traditional morphological identification. Also, while metabarcoding costs slightly more, it requires far less time to process samples. The research confirmed that as DNA sequence databases expand, metabarcoding can help scientists more quickly and precisely identify zooplankton species and diversity in the Bay. The Sea Grant Fellow is developing a web-based application to help users analyze which identification process will work best for their project based on parameters including processing time and materials cost. Researchers plan to share their results at a 2021 workshop with federal and state fisheries officials, as well as develop a best-practices document on these methods. This research also established a new partnership with Chesapeake College that gives undergraduates long-term field and lab experience with cutting-edge molecular technologies in zooplankton and fisheries ecology.

 

Title: Assessing Oyster Feces’ Effects on Water and Sediment

Partners: Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inha University, Incheon, Korea, Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany, Morgan State, Patuxent Environmental and Aquatic Research Laboratory (PEARL), University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), Horn Point Laboratory

Recap: In first-of-their-kind experiments, Sea Grant-supported researchers examined how oyster feces and pseudofeces—known as biodeposits—affect the biogeochemistry and sediment beneath aquaculture sites both in the water column and on the seabed.

Relevance: Maryland has prioritized oyster aquaculture as a way to improve the Chesapeake Bay’s water quality, provide an economic option for watermen, and enhance the depleted population of wild Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica). As of December 2020, there were 486 active shellfish leases in Maryland’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Bays, comprising 7,539 acres. While oysters’ filter-feeding ability to clean water is well understood, researchers know little about the effects of what are collectively called biodeposits—oyster feces and pseudofeces (particles of grit and other matter that oysters ingest, which are expelled without going through the digestive tract). Better understanding of these biodeposits’ effects in the water column and in bottom sediment will provide new data to more accurately evaluate the use of oysters as a water quality best management practice as well as inform siting of aquaculture projects.

Response: Maryland Sea Grant-supported researchers used the Shear Turbulence Resuspension Mesocosm (STURM) facility at the Patuxent Environmental and Aquatic Research Laboratory (PEARL) to study the effects of biodeposits in the water column and in sediment. This specialized facility allowed whole-ecosystem experiments that mimicked factors such as current and bottom shear, which re-suspend biodeposits in the water column, as well as conditions of no current and no resuspension. Among their results, researchers found that in resuspension, biodeposits lowered oxygen and notably increased nitrates and nitrites in the water column. Light was similar during mixing-off and resuspension experiments, and biodeposits did not impact the amounts of benthic algae in either situation. Flux results from sediment cores showed that sediment oxygen uptake is significantly higher in non-resuspension situations with added biodeposits. Biodeposits had no negative effects on zooplankton or phytoplankton communities. In fact, biodeposit resuspension efficiently transferred phytoplankton carbon to zooplankton carbon, supporting the estuarine food web. The research is continuing in 2021 to examine how the movement, or export, of oyster biodeposits from aquaculture sites affects the surrounding environment. This study also verified that further research is needed on biodeposit resuspension and especially its effects on the nitrogen cycle.

Results: These data—which are the first to quantify and illuminate how oyster biodeposits affect the water column and seafloor sediment—clearly indicate that oyster managers must consider biodeposit resuspension when siting oyster farms and managing oyster populations. Researchers at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), who are also supported by Sea Grant funding, are using these data to help test and validate a model that predicts the fate and nitrogen removal associated with different types of oyster aquaculture. The principal investigator shared her results with the Oyster Recovery Partnership.

 

Title: Fish Out of Water: Growing U.S. Production of Land-Based Atlantic Salmon Aquaculture

Partners: American Salmon, Kennebec River Biosciences, Maine Sea Grant, Morgan State University, Riverence, Superior Fresh, The Conservation Fund, University of Maine Aquaculture Research Institute (UMaine, ARI), University of Maine Cooperative Extension (UMaine), University of Maryland Baltimore County, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, University of Maryland Extension (UMD), University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point (UWSP), USDA Agricultural Research Service, National Cold Water Marine Aquaculture Center, Whole Oceans, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Recap: Maryland Sea Grant with a consortium of collaborators are developing a ‘roadmap’ to advance domestic, land-based Atlantic salmon production through recirculating aquaculture systems in the United States to help reduce pressure facing wild salmon stocks.

Relevance: About 90 percent of American seafood is imported, but only about half of it is farmed. Researchers estimate that by 2050 twice the current supply will be needed, and depleted wild stocks cannot fill the demand. Every year, Americans consume 500,000 tons of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), 95 percent of it imported, with a value of $3.4 billion. Recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) can sustainably and safely grow salmon on land. The systems clean and re-use water (up to 99 percent recycled); control the environment to optimize fish growth and health; repurpose waste as fertilizer, and feed fish with sustainably sourced foods. In doing so, RAS can enable domestic salmon production to support local economies and reduce dependence on imported and wild fish. The RAS domestic industry’s carbon footprint would be half that of imports, and land-based salmon could not escape into the wild population—a problem in sea-based farming. As of 2020, foreign and domestic interests invested or committed more than $1 billion to advance domestic salmon RAS production. However, barriers to expansion remain challenging.

Response: Maryland Sea Grant (MDSG), along with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, are leading partners in a $1.2 million, multi-state NOAA grant to study how to optimally grow Atlantic salmon using RAS and build the domestic industry. Collectively known as RAS-N (Recirculating Aquaculture Salmon Network), this consortium includes scientists, economists, biologists, and engineers collaborating to advance RAS Atlantic salmon production. They are also educating the public and supporting workforce, career, and business development. Despite COVID-19 restrictions in 2020, MDSG staff attended or led virtual meetings with RAS-N collaborators addressing career and workforce development, education, communications, and research. The MDSG Extension specialist hired through the NOAA grant is facilitating the RAS-N work group efforts.

Result: MDSG’s Assistant Director for Communications and the Extension specialist developed content and layout for the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant’s RAS-N website, which launched in 2020. MDSG’s Assistant Director for Education worked with counterparts in Maine and Wisconsin to identify best practices in formal and non-formal education and workforce development. These results will be aggregated into a broader ‘roadmap’ paper. Through workshop feedback, the Extension specialist developed a survey sent to stakeholders in spring 2021 to help prioritize needs as well as identify top barriers to salmon RAS development. The Extension specialist also published an article in Aquaculture Magazine, Vol. 47, No. 1 (March 2021) about the RAS-N project, workshops, and launching the RAS-N website.

 

Title: Pass the (Low) Salt: Maryland Sea Grant (MSDG) Works With Morgan State University to Produce Brood Stock in Lower Salinities.

Partners: Orchard Point Oyster Co., Madhouse Oysters, Johnny Oyster Seed Co.

Recap: Maryland Sea Grant helped support an oyster geneticist to develop brood stock oysters that thrive in low-salinity waters and will help advance oyster aquaculture and restoration in Maryland.

Relevance: Triploid oysters, also known as seedless oysters, put all of their energy into growth and none into reproduction, and have become the industry standard for aquaculture because they can grow all year and far more quickly than wild diploid oysters. Triploid oysters have three chromosomes instead of two, and geneticists create them by crossing a wild two-chromosome oyster (diploid) with tetraploid, which has four chromosomes, to make a three-chromosome sterile oyster. Geneticists also create triploids that are resistant to oyster diseases prevalent in the Chesapeake Bay. Many of Maryland’s tributaries, and portions of its Bay, have low salinities, so oyster farmers are interested in a triploid oyster genetically bred for low salinity water. Low salinity adapted oysters are also needed to help restore the region’s wild oyster population stock.

Response: Because salinities at the Morgan State University’s Patuxent Environmental and Aquatic Research Laboratory (PEARL) in Calvert County, are low, oysters successfully bred there are likely good candidates for aquaculture production in other low salinity waters in Maryland. During the COVID pandemic, Dr. Ming Liu, an oyster geneticist, worked with PEARL hatchery manager and MDSG Extension Program’s Brittany Wolfe-Bryant and two undergraduates to create tetraploid oysters from wild stocks in the Chesapeake. To develop tetraploids, the first step is to create triploids from diploid oysters through chemical (6-DMAP) - inducing method. Liu and his team investigated several techniques that could impact successful triploid production, including the method of spawning, chemical concentration, timing of chemical adding and treatment duration. This led them to develop a protocol with maximum triploid inducing rates for future spawns. This work also ramped up algae production at PEARL and gave students and staff in the lab more experience working with higher volumes of oysters.

Results: Liu and his team produced about 150,000 spat consisting of three triploid lines and two diploid lines. These new triploid oysters are adapted to Chesapeake Bay low salinity water and some were placed at Maryland oyster farms (Orchard Point Oyster Co., Madhouse Oysters, and Johnny Oyster Seed Co.) to evaluate their performance under different environmental conditions. The new, non-sterile diploid lines could be used for oyster restoration and/or on-bottom aquaculture in Maryland’s low salinity waters. These five new lines, developed in 2020, join a low-salinity diploid line produced in 2019 and together will serve as key materials to create tetraploid stock in 2022. By 2023 it is anticipated that the oyster seeds created from these lines will be used to expand Maryland’s oyster aquaculture and public wild fishery in low salinity waters.

 

Resilient Communities and Economies

Title: Maryland Sea Grant Extension Builds Capacity to Expand Understanding of Climate Change

Recap: Maryland Sea Grant provided climate change training to 25 University of Maryland Extension agents. More than half of the agents reported they are extremely likely to add climate change information to their stakeholder outreach efforts, thus greatly amplifying the reach of Sea Grant’s climate change training.

Relevance: Maryland residents and industries are currently experiencing the effects of climate change, including higher air and water temperatures, increasingly severe rain events and storms, and rising sea levels. About 70 percent of Marylanders live in a coastal county, where they grapple with occasional flooding and other climate change impacts. Approximately 200 University of Maryland Extension (UME) faculty work with diverse stakeholders across the state in a variety of capacities, and are well positioned to help their constituents understand and adapt to climate change. However, based on the results of a 2019 survey of UME faculty, only 15 percent were incorporating climate change impacts into programming in a significant way, and 79 percent reported that additional training would enhance their extension efforts.

Response: Maryland Sea Grant (MDSG) worked to deliver the “Building UME Capacity to Address Climate Change” program to a wide variety of UME faculty to help them develop the skills and knowledge necessary to assist stakeholders with climate-related issues. In 2020, under COVID-19 restrictions, 25 UME faculty participated in a four-hour, virtual in-service training on climate change impacts in Maryland and learned strategies to incorporate climate change information into existing extension programs. Participating faculty received a document summarizing observed and expected climate trends in Maryland and an annotated list of relevant resources to help educate constituents. In 2022, MDSG Extension specialist Kate McClure plans to deliver an updated version of the training; conduct a climate change communication workshop when it is possible to meet in person, and explore extension programming changes whether the outreach training helped Extension agents increase stakeholders’.

Results: MDSG training participants reported that the training broadened their knowledge about climate change in Maryland, and 53 percent stated they were extremely likely to use information from the training in their work within the next year, greatly amplifying the reach of climate change training to constituents.

 

Title: The Marsh Resilience Summit Special Feature brings Worldwide Attention to Maryland and Virginia Tidal Wetlands

Partners: Deal Island Peninsula Project, George Washington University, Georgetown Climate Center, Morgan State University, NOAA Geodetic Survey, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland College Park (UMCP), Sea Grant Extension, University of New Orleans (UNO), University Of Virginia, Charlottesville (UVA), US Geological Survey (US DOI, USGS), Virginia Coast Reserve Long-Term Ecological Research (VCR LTER), Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VT)

Recap: In 2019, Maryland Sea Grant co-hosted a Marsh Resilience Summit. A key impact from the summit was a special feature in the peer-reviewed journal “Wetlands.” The special feature, now published and advancing tidal marsh science, included ten publications on different aspects of marsh resilience in coastal Maryland and Virginia first presented at the summit.

Relevance: In February 2019, the Chesapeake Bay Sentinel Site Cooperative (CBSSC), with sponsorship from Maryland Sea Grant (MDSG) and other partners, hosted the first ever Marsh Resilience Summit in the Chesapeake Bay region. Over 200 participants, representing 115 organizations (scientists, land managers, policy makers, educators), attended the two-day event, which included eight themed sessions, facilitated discussions, and a networking reception. In total, 50 presentations and 24 posters described how marshes are reacting to accelerated rates of sea level rise and what role marshes might play in adaptation planning for the surrounding communities. This lessons learned at the summit in understanding tidal marsh resilience in the Chesapeake Region could also apply to other watersheds around the world. It was deemed important by summit organizers to make the summit’s findings broadly available to the scientific community.

Response: In order to share the research, themes, and next steps that would improve marsh and coastal community resilience in the Chesapeake Bay, the summit steering committee recommended submitting a series of papers based on talks from the summit, in a special feature in the journal “Wetlands,” which would highlight different aspects of tidal marsh resilience in the Chesapeake Bay region. The CBSSC coordinator, Taryn Sudol, invited interested summit presenters to submit a paper to the special feature. Sudol, Dr. Gregory Noe (USGS) and Dr. Denise Reed (University of New Orleans) were co-editors and facilitated peer review and ultimately accepted the manuscripts for publication.

Results: An impact of the summit was the publication of “The Marsh Resilience Summit Special Feature” in the December 2020 issue of “Wetlands.” This special feature, and the ten articles therein, expands knowledge about tidal wetland management and improves recognition of the CBSSC, Maryland Sea Grant, and the Marsh Resilience Summit on a national and international scale. Sudol, Noe, and Reed provided the feature’s introduction “Tidal Wetland Resilience to Increased Rates of Sea Level Rise in the Chesapeake Bay: Introduction to the Special Feature.” This provided background on the current viability of tidal wetlands and future adaptability in the Chesapeake Bay and the benefits of conducting a summit. It also gave an overview of the ten published articles which ranged from site-specific marsh restoration actions to measuring marsh migration and erosion potential at a landscape scale to the social, legal, and policy influences on marsh resilience. It concluded with the summit’s results, which included long-term monitoring needs, stakeholder collaboration given conflicting priorities, and representation of underserved communities on interdisciplinary teams.

 

Title: Workshop on Vertical Land Motion in the Chesapeake Bay Determines New Strategies to Plan for Sea Level Rise

Partners: Maryland Geological Survey, Morgan State University, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (US DOC, NOAA, NOS, NCCOS), NOAA Geodetic Survey, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland College Park (UMCP), Sea Grant Extension, University of Virginia, Charlottesville (UVA), Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VT)

Recap: Accurately determining rates of vertical land motion (VLM) across the Mid-Atlantic region could contribute to better predictions of local variation in relative sea level rise (RSLR). Maryland Sea Grant (MDSG) was awarded National Science Foundation (NSF) Coastlines and People funding to lead a workshop to discuss processes contributing to VLM in the Chesapeake Bay (CB) and how those estimates may affect predictions of RSLR around the region.

Relevance: The coastal CB region is vulnerable to one of the highest rates of sea level rise in the United States–putting its residents, infrastructure, and ecosystems increasingly at risk of chronic flooding and inundation. In order to plan for the future, stakeholders must understand their local relative sea level rise rates and the factors that contribute to these variations. Scientists, town planners and land managers, for example, must come together to discuss how VLM contributes to RSLR rates, how to monitor these rates across the CB, and possible mitigation strategies.

Response: In July 2019, Maryland Sea Grant was awarded an NSF Coastlines and People funding to lead two workshops on RSLR planning: 1) Vertical Land Motion in the Chesapeake Bay; and 2) Evaluating Land Use Tradeoffs. VLM workshop planning took place from September 2019 to February 2020 and involved: biweekly calls among a 15-person steering committee, recruiting speakers, venue logistics, workshop advertising and participant recruiting, administering a pre- and post-survey, and creating a briefing document. The workshop was held on February 28, 2020 at the Virginia Air and Space Center library in Hampton, VA. Workshop participants (approximately 80) came mostly from Virginia and Maryland and represented a range of expertise and organizations including graduate students from Morgan State University, Hampton University, and Virginia Tech. The workshop had three sessions: (1) a state of the science on processes that contribute to VLM in CB; (2) current measurement techniques to estimate VLM rates; and (3) VLM implications for managing coastal ecosystems. Discussion sessions explored effective communication strategies on sharing VLM impacts with different audiences; identified research needs; and potential new collaborations.

Results: The workshop was a valuable opportunity for scientists to share knowledge and learn about VLM in the CB with a diverse group of participants. The participants determined there is a lack of VLM measurements in place to implement local policy. They suggested developing a regional, continuous record of measurements, which also includes additional types of related-monitoring (e.g. hydrologic monitoring). It is also difficult to demonstrate why millimeter rates of ground subsidence and sea level rise has a significant impact; they suggest showing long-term impacts paired with short-term incentives, such as relating VLM to daily nuisance flooding. A post survey asked if respondents were willing to begin to develop a specific message or project—with the expectation that MDSG would connect the willing respondents via email so they could self-organize and find their own resources. The survey listed 26 collaboration opportunities, which generated 136 indications of willingness to collaborate. The highest topic of interest (with nine indications of willingness) was to “communicate how SLR rates and VLM rates will compare over time.” Dr. Sarah Stamps of Virginia Tech, who presented at the workshop, went on to submit an article to Eos: Earth and Space Science News about VLM in the CB. Importantly, following the workshop a GPS monitoring campaign to measure VLM simultaneously at multiple sites across the CB occurred in October 2020.

 

Title: Refining Resilience: Assessing Indicators for Adapting to Climate Change.

Partners: Annapolis Historic Preservation Division, Chesapeake Bay Program, City of College Park, Dorchester County Maryland, Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MD DNR), Prince George's County Department of the Environment, Sustainable Adaptive Gradients in the Coastal Environment (SAGE), Talbot County Department of Emergency Services

Recap: In an effort to help Chesapeake Bay communities respond to climate change, Maryland Sea Grant-supported researchers worked with stakeholders to develop a science-based framework for measuring resilience.

Relevance: The effects of climate change are already evident in Maryland. In coastal communities, so-called nuisance tides are common, and scientists have advised planners to prepare for sea level rise in the Chesapeake Bay of more than two feet by 2050. Warming atmosphere and oceans are feeding more severe storms and hurricanes in the mid-Atlantic, with attendant wind and storm surge damage to communities and infrastructure. Maryland’s regulatory and planning agencies are developing adaptation strategies to increase resilience to human health, economic, and environmental impacts. Among these strategies is the use of indicators, which track changes over time to assess progress toward resilience objectives and help inform adaptation decisions. Creating a consistent set of indicators, however, is difficult, because adaption decisions happen within complex systems at levels ranging from state to local. For this reason, information and assessment resources are needed at different levels. Developing a scalable, transparent, and flexible science-based set of indicators would produce a framework to better assess whether specific adaptations at one level can also increase a community’s resilience at another level.

Response: Maryland Sea Grant-supported researchers set out to develop a science-based resilience conceptual framework, to engage with stakeholders, and to identify existing data and indicators that could be included in such a framework. Three meetings with stakeholders helped researchers better understand their needs, but also made clear that they preferred to use existing resilience indicator frameworks rather than create a new one. Thus, the researchers’ goals shifted to developing a shared understanding of resilience and identifying indicators that would help assess an adaptation’s usefulness community-wide, rather than in a single place or project. They reviewed 273 geographic- and topic-relevant documents to identify existing concepts and implementation of resilience research in Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Eastern Shore. This review aimed to navigate the diverse information landscape surrounding climate change adaption in Maryland to provide a data-based foundation for assessing resilience indicators and adaptations. 

Results: The literature review, published in February 2021 in Current Climate Change Reports, found that while there is a diverse range of themes and information on resilience in Maryland, there are large information gaps for capacity and response indicators. The principal investigator is using lessons and techniques from this project to develop resilience indicators as part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Community Resilience Program.

 

Effective Environmental Science Education

Title: Maryland Sea Grant Broadens Student Opportunities With Community-Engaged Internship Program

Recap: A new program specifically designed to engage undergraduate students from underrepresented and indigenous communities allows Maryland Sea Grant (MDSG) to hire a summer multimedia intern to produce a range of communications materials focused on local ecology and community outreach. 

Relevance: Students from economically or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds can often feel inhibited in their ability to pursue a career in STEM, and increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in coastal and marine science research is an important programmatic priority for MDSG. Taking part in the Sea Grant Community-Engaged Internship (CEI) program for undergraduate students, which was started by the National Sea Grant College Program in the summer of 2021, provided an opportunity for MDSG to recruit, engage, and mentor a student from an underrepresented community over a 10-week internship.

Response: MDSG recruited students from minority serving institutions and undergraduate science, technology, journalism, and communications programs throughout Maryland and the District of Columbia. The top candidate joined the MDSG communications team at the start of the summer and worked closely with them virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions. The intern assisted the team on many fronts, including the planning, production, and posting of blogs, images, and videos for the program's website and social media platforms. The intern was also mentored on the production of one personal project, which included carefully planned hands-on field work during the internship’s final two weeks. The project was a short film highlighting a Maryland Sea Grant Extension watershed restoration project in the small community of Templeville, Maryland, a headwaters town with a burgeoning Hispanic and Latino population. 

Results: Despite the challenges of a remote internship, the CEI program participant provided editorial input and content for several MDSG communication products through participation in a wide range of weekly meetings, solo photo shoots, and socially-distanced field work. This included a self-authored blog post, the production of a short film and four videos for YouTube and social media, and researching and writing six posts for the Maryland Sea Grant Backyard Ecology social media campaign. All work produced by the 2020 intern can be viewed here http://bit.ly/2020-MDSG-CEI. The film is being premiered as part of an online story in spring 2021 to highlight the Templeville community project. The intern is currently pursuing a full time position in communications for an environmental organization. MDSG will continue the CEI program by supporting a science outreach summer intern in 2021.  

 

Title: Maryland Sea Grant Examines and Improves its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts

Partners: University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, University of Maryland College Park (UMCP), Sea Grant Extension

Recap: Maryland Sea Grant, along with many other organizations, recognizes that a diverse and inclusive workforce is crucial to success. The staff is working to foster that environment with a formal structure that makes us accountable for our actions. New hiring procedures improved applicant pool and hiring of underrepresented candidates.

Relevance: Systemic racism is not new, and neither are efforts to combat it. But the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minnesota police officers in May 2020 underscored what University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) President Peter Goodwin refers to as the “twin pandemics” of racism and the coronavirus. Maryland Sea Grant (MDSG) cannot solve every systemic problem, but every organization and person have a role to play in combating discrimination, whether subtle or overt.

Response: During summer 2020, Maryland Sea Grant (MDSG) employees formulated a strategy to examine MDSG’s policies, procedures, and cultural norms to determine methods to foster a more inclusive environment and encourage underrepresented groups to apply for positions and fellowships. Staff developed a document that included five areas: office practices, fellowships and internships, hiring and training, a website statement, and Extension work. To achieve maximum input, MDSG developed a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) committee comprised of staff members who engaged in these efforts as part of their regular duties. Finally, staff coordinated with the UMCES DEI Collaborative (DEIC), which sets policy for the larger UMCES community. MDSG Director Moser was appointed to the DEIC and MDSG staff regularly participate in DEIC working groups to help foster the effort’s momentum and link between MDSG’s DEI committee and UMCES DEIC. 

Results: MDSG developed an action plan that included objectives and a timeline to achieve them. Immediate changes included adding all major religious holidays to the office calendar, and making the decision not to schedule meetings on those days. The MDSG strategic plan, as well as language in requests for proposals, was amended to more clearly emphasize the importance of DEI. Hiring practices were modified to be more inclusive by asking questions that will generate a more diverse pool that is also committed to diversity. An improved hiring process, based on rubrics learned at an Avarna Group workshop attended by MDSG staff, resulted in hiring an underrepresented candidate for the inaugural MDSG Law and Policy Fellow. A staff-initiated, two-hour workshop led by the University of Maryland’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion was attended by MDSG and Extension staff who were enthusiastic about what they learned and appreciated how the workshop was conducted. The MDSG DEI committee meets weekly to develop plans and actions, as well as to discuss DEI training videos and other educational materials. The committee is creating a repository of resources as well as guidance on hiring, retaining, and respecting applicants from diverse backgrounds. MDSG plays a significant role in the UMCES DEIC to advance a university code of conduct, an ombudsman program, a campus climate survey initiative, and inclusive language documentation. MDSG managers are investigating training opportunities for staff; several have joined an NSF-funded geosciences effort called Unlearning Racism in the Geosciences (URGE) to help promote diversity in the field, including participating in a specific Sea Grant URGE ‘pod.’

 

Title: Maryland Sea Grant COVID-19 Response: Curriculum Writing Workshops to Develop and Enhance Online Education Instructional Strategies.

Partners: Baltimore City Public Schools, Carroll County Public Schools, Harford County Public Schools, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Appalachian Laboratory, University of Maryland College Park (UMCP), Sea Grant Extension

Recap: Due to COVID-19, Maryland Sea Grant (MDSG) shifted to online instruction, developing teacher professional development workshops to advance K-12 online instructional strategies and strengthen project-based learning (PBL). MDSG, along with teachers, produced ten 5e model lessons and supporting PBL resources.

Relevance: In the United States, and globally, there is heightened interest in K-12 education strategies that promote science literacy and teach research skills. Science educators seek ways to provide middle and high school students experiential and project-based learning (PBL) opportunities. Since developing and adopting Maryland State Department of Education E-Lit standards and Next Generation Science Standards, Maryland has had an increased demand for high-quality professional development and curriculum instruction to strengthen teacher content knowledge and pedagogical skills. To keep pace with the growing demand it is essential to provide teacher professional development (PD) that brings together educators, faculty, and staff currently making use of best practices in pedagogical methods and field and laboratory research within the university. The COVID-19 pandemic placed a spotlight on how unprepared local school systems are in handling online education and curriculum delivery. Maryland Sea Grant (MDSG) has an opportunity to expand its role to assist in providing content resources to local educators that best match the online environment.

Response: In 2020, the National Sea Grant Program provided COVID-19 response funding to virtually connect teachers, faculty, and staff from various institutions into working groups to address issues related to PBL curriculum for the classroom and to improve the MDSG online curriculum resources. The workshops, led by MDSG’s Assistant Director for Education, consisted of both online synchronous group work and asynchronous teamwork. Six teams of teachers from three Maryland public school systems (Baltimore City, Carroll County, and Harford County) worked with MDSG and UME faculty, and faculty and staff from the UMCES Appalachian Laboratory (AL). This new teacher PD and curriculum writing workshop offered an opportunity to share ideas regarding online curriculum as well as methods to increase student engagement. Feedback from our stakeholders currently using this process can help inform how we move forward to make an impact using an online classroom environment.

Results: In 2020, teams of teachers and faculty and staff from the UMCES AL were provided honoraria for their assistance in curriculum writing workshops. The entire team met eight times during July and August 2020. The MDSG Assistant Director for Education and UME faculty met with six individual teams during July and September 2020 to clarify issues, listen to feedback and provide direction for the completion of instructional strategies. The total number of hours of online synchronous work and individual teamwork was greater than 300. Instructional strategies using the ten 5e model lessons were developed and/or enhanced for the MDSG K-12 education resources webpage. An important impact was that MDSG gained a better understanding of how teacher needs shifted during COVID-19. MDSG was able to alter its training to focus on helping teachers improve their delivery of PBL science education in a virtual environment. We improved teacher comfort level with online tools and directed teachers in using new tools and virtual platforms to adapt their PBL curriculum. We also taught new lesson delivery approaches appropriate for a virtual environment and helped teachers increase their skills and comfort level in designing 5e lessons. 

 

Title: Maryland Sea Grant Teams up With International Partners to Develop Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) for the VIRTUE-s Project.

Partners: Daina-Isard School, Barcelona, Spain, GEOMAR, Kiel Germany, Hebbeshule School, Kiel, Germany, Ockero School, Sweden, SUBMON, Barcelona Spain, University of Gothenburg, Department of Biology

Recap: Through an international partnership, more than 80 students from Sweden, Germany, and Spain; and 350 teachers from European nations participated in two different Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) that shared instructional strategies and teaching resources developed during the VIRTUE-s Project. Maryland Sea Grant integrated its long-running biofilms and biodiversity education program within both MOOCs and participated in development, delivery mechanisms, and direct instruction of each course.

Relevance: In the United States, and globally, there is heightened interest in K-12 education strategies that promote science literacy and teach students research skills. Science educators seek opportunities to provide middle and high school students experiential and project-based learning (PBL) opportunities. By adopting Next Generation Science Standards, Maryland increased demand for high-quality professional development to strengthen teacher content knowledge and pedagogical skills. In parallel, European Union members are working to improve professional development in science education and expand the use of PBL. As globalization continues, the EU is supporting mechanisms for internationalization of education projects at the K-12 level through programs such as Erasmus+ that provided the funding for the VIRTUE-s Project and the MOOCs. In particular, there is growing interest in developing multi-national teacher and student collaborations that share common projects to address critical issues like ocean literacy, biodiversity, and the conservation of natural resources.

Response: In 1997 the University of Maryland, the University of Bergen, Norway, and the University of Gothenburg (UGOT), Sweden, launched the VirtUE (Virtual University Education) project. The education component, the Virtue Project, used the Maryland Sea Grant Biofilms and Biodiversity project (BBP) as the foundation for the PBL in the classroom with K-12 teachers and students. Currently, these projects continue collaborative programming and expansion with funding from the European Commission (Erasmus+ Program) under the direction of faculty at the University of Gothenburg with new partners from Germany (GEOMAR) and Spain (SUBMON). Maryland Sea Grant provides expertise in teacher professional development programs, innovative instructional strategies designed for the classroom and online, and pedagogical techniques.

Results: In 2020, Maryland Sea Grant’s Assistant Director for Education continued as a co-leader on a three-year European Commission (Erasmus+ Program) grant, VIRTUE-s. Efforts included the development, delivery, and instruction of two separate MOOCs based on the VIRTUE-s Project and the resources developed over the last three years of the funded project.  The K-12 teacher professional development MOOC (350 participants), Promoting Ocean Literacy and Project-Based Learning by Monitoring Biodiversity (6-week course, weekly 2-hour sessions) focused on two main ideas: how to design field investigations and participate in monitoring aquatic biodiversity and related Ocean Literacy Principles (OLP) shared globally through a network of marine education and science organizations.  The student MOOC (84 participants), VIRTUE-s OCEAN, an online classroom for education and networking (6-week course, weekly 2-hour sessions, secondary education) was developed in response to the pandemic, as a replacement to the in-person student conference scheduled to take place in Sweden in 2020 as a culminating activity of the VIRTUE-s Project.  The student MOOC was developed for students participating directly in the VIRTUE-s Project so they could share video documentaries of their projects and expand their knowledge of OLP.  Each MOOC was published on the VIRTUE-s website at the conclusion of each course and follow-up questions were addressed over a period of 2 weeks following the Promoting Ocean Literacy and Project-Based Learning by Monitoring Biodiversity MOOC. 

 

Title: Maryland Sea Grant Supports Career-Building Fellowships for Graduate Students.

Partners: University of Maryland - College Park, University of Maryland Baltimore County, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory

Recap: Maryland Sea Grant sponsors graduate fellowship programs that train qualified students in marine science through participation in research and policy activities. In 2020, 14 students received support to conduct research projects at five Maryland institutions, and five students were placed in federal offices as Knauss Marine Policy Fellows.

Relevance: Training future scientists is critical for developing a scientifically literate workforce to investigate environmental issues, translate scientific information for the public, and help policymakers make informed decisions.

Response: Maryland Sea Grant (MDSG) supports highly competitive research fellowship programs and the Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship. The fellowship programs included the Maryland Sea Grant Research Fellowship, Competitive Graduate Research Fellowship and Grants program, and Population and Ecosystem Dynamics Fellowship. The programs offer students professional development opportunities and financial support for research and living expenses. The Knauss Fellowship supports students for one year to work in the legislative or executive branch of the U.S. government in the Washington, D.C. area.

Results: Despite COVID-19 restrictions and enforced telework for much of the year, fellows continued to push forward on research and policy projects. Maryland Sea Grant supported 13 research fellowships, two new grant recipients, and five policy fellows. MDSG’s Competitive Graduate Research Fellowships program awarded two new fellowships and two research grants. The Competitive Grants program offers students funding for research and travel expenses. Research topics included understanding the physiological impacts of desiccation on oysters for aquaculture and new tools for remote detection of phytoplankton in Bay waters. In 2020, Knauss fellows served with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Oceanographer of the Navy, the US Fish and Wildlife service, and in the U.S. House of Representatives. MDSG also led a science communication workshop for students. Fellows described their scientific and professional growth in blog posts they wrote for MDSG’s website. A clear impact from this funding is that each year a number of the Knauss alumni and Research Fellows go on to careers in state and federal government, academic institutions, or to PhD programs at other institutions. MDSG has highlighted fellows’ contributions in separate impact statements about the projects on which they worked.

 

Title: Reimagining Undergraduate Professional Development Programs in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Partners: Smithsonian Institution (SI), Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory

Recap: Maryland Sea Grant developed a new, virtual undergraduate professional development curriculum that provided nine rising juniors and seniors with skills and experiences to prepare for graduate school and post-graduate STEM jobs.

Relevance: The COVID-19 pandemic upended many traditional education and outreach programs during 2020, including those for undergraduate summer research programs. Historically, these summer programs have provided critical research and professional development internship experiences for students nearing completion of their degrees. They often give students their first independent research experience and important direction on post-graduate careers. While many programs were cancelled outright, Maryland Sea Grant (MDSG) recognized this critical student need and redesigned its Research Experiences for Undergraduates program into a virtual professional development curriculum designed to help students gain professional skills remotely.

Response: MDSG developed a new, interactive virtual curriculum for its summer 2020 program. The program used interactive, synchronous video meetings; asynchronous readings, videos, writing exercises; and peer review groups -- all focused on developing the skills, experiences, and products necessary for undergraduates to succeed in applying for graduate programs and jobs. The curriculum allowed students to learn about marine science research and faculty and non-academic career paths, develop their resumes, write cover letters, discuss professional communication, speak with graduate students to learn about graduate school and how to apply, discuss science ethics, and conduct mock interviews with faculty and staff.

Results: The six-week program welcomed nine students from diverse backgrounds, including five from Puerto Rico. Seven were from underrepresented minority backgrounds. Interns from several other programs joined us for graduate school and non-academic career discussions. The students rated the program highly and noted substantial increases in knowledge about focal topics. The students will be completing their degrees in 2021. 

 

 

The Blue Crab: Callinectes Sapidus

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