Rutgers Oceanography...a critical guide for development, management, and con-servation. The Rutgers Fisheries Cluster within the In-stitute of Marine and Coastal sciences (IMCs) provides

Issue 18 • June 2014

Grants Awards :Olaf Jensen, Multi-trophic Level Modeling in Bar-negat Bay. NJ DEP, $12,0.951

Olaf Jensen, Insitutte of Intenrational Education., $31,523

John Wilkin, Synergistic impacts of population growth, urbanization, and climate change on water-shed and coastall systems. Penn State. $22,183

Monica Briceji Assessment of the reproductive potential of hard clams,Mercenaria mercenaria, in the Barnegat Bay. NJ DEP. $133,000

Thomas Grothues, Field Work Program for Quantify-ing Acoustic Uncertainty Due to Marine Mammals and Fish, WHOI, $50,000

Malin Pinkdy, Understanding the Impacts of Climate Change on the Distribution, Population Connectivi-tity, and Productivity. NJ Sea Grant $22,517

Robert Chant Arctic Tracer Release Experiment (ARTREX), U. Alaska $58,643

Olaf Jensen Assessment of Egiin Gol Hydropower Project The Taimen Conservation Fund $110,253

Yair Rosenthal, Site Survey and Coring of Potential IODP Drill Sites in the Western Pacific Warm Pool., NSF $24,661

Malin Pinsky, Mega-Typhoon Impacts on the Resilience of Coral Reef Fishes Oak Ridge Associated Universities $5,000

Michael DeLuca Submerged Marine Habitat Mapping: A Foundation for Enhancing Resilience to Climate Change. Dept. of Interior $300,000

Benjamin Horton Paleoseismology of Sanak Island: Collaborative Research . Dept. of Interior $29,064

Gangyu Xu Measuring the hydrothermal heat output at the Grotto Mound, a hydrothermal vent cluster on the Endeavor NJ Geological Survey $2,500

Kimberlee Thamatrakoln Understanding the Molecular Regulation of Photosynthet-ic-Related Processes in Unicellular Marine Phytoplankton. $38,595

Scott Glenn OOI Education and Public En-gagement Implementing Organization/OOI EPE- Consortia od Ocean Leadership $54,190

International Symposium Held to Honor Peter Rona

Celebrating a great person, scientist, and friend

Rutgers Oceanography

In honor and memory of Peter Rona, Richard Lutz organized a special Sym-posium at Rutgers on June 17-18, 2014. The Symposium was sponsored by In-stitute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, the School of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Ma-rine and Coastal Sciences and the Department of Earth and Planetary Sci-ences (Peter was a faculty member of all of these Rutgers University enti-ties). The response from Peter’s friends and colleagues throughout the world was overwhelming. Scientists from around the world arrived and provid-ed a wide range of stimulating science talks during the two day symposium. Science topics ranged from the discovery of the hydrothermal vents, trace metal distributions in the deep sea, the geology and ecosystems of the Hudson River canyon, the development of the NEPTUNE Canada Ocean Observatory, and the evoution of underwater submersibles. As Peter was a consumate scientist, everybody agreed that 2 days of shared science would be the most fitting tribute and one that Peter would have approved. Much of the science presented along with other external contributions is being collated and will be published in a special issue of Deep Sea Research. The special issue will be a great collection of scientific work that will be a fitting tribute to a great man.

Rutgers Oceanography houses a vibrant fishery program (Ken Able, Dave Bushek, Olaf Jensen, Josh Kohut, Daph-

ne Munroe, Malin Pinsky, and John Wiedenmann)

Have you ever thought the “Garden State” should be renamed the “Seafood State?” Perhaps not… and yet fisheries are big business on the Jersey shore. Our state supports more fisheries jobs than any other state in the mid-Atlantic (43,000 people by last count), and fisheries have value-added impacts for the state economy totaling $2.4 billion. Though not widely recognized, the econom-ic impact from fisheries is substantially higher than agri-culture. Fishing is also woven into the fabric of the Jersey shore experience and for many people, summer just isn’t complete without a fishing trip for one of the many spe-cies that can be found in our waters. Beyond new Jersey, fish and other seafood provide a critical source of protein for some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

A robust fishing industry, however, relies on science as a critical guide for development, management, and con-servation. The Rutgers Fisheries Cluster within the In-stitute of Marine and Coastal sciences (IMCs) provides scientific research, advice, and training to serve the state, the nation, and the world. Current research stretches from the Jersey shore and Barnegat Bay to Antarctica, to the coral reefs of the western Pacific, and around the world. A sample of some of our current projects include:

Replicating Success The Atlantic sea scallop is a re-markable success story, having recovered from very low population levels in the early 1990s. How, though, do we replicate that lesson elsewhere? Dr. Daphne Munroe is currently investigating whether a system of rotating fish-ery closures helped increase the number of baby scallops produced. This work will allow in the future a healthy and sustainable fishery.

Hot Flukes Summer flounder are one of the most sought-after species of fish in the Mid-Atlantic bight, both by recreational anglers and by commercial fishers. However, over the last two decades, this species has shift-ed dramatically northward as water temperatures have warmed. An interdisciplinary team led by Rutgers scien-tists is currently harnessing tools from genetics, chemis-try, and climate science to answer whether changing cli-mates have driven the fish northward and provide new tools for managing species on the move.

Rutgers Oceanography

marine.rutgers.edu

Fish Finder Just like a city’s downtown, the ocean is a complex landscape of highways, restaurants, social clubs, and birth centers. Fish have no trouble navigating, but we just can’t see them very easily. The ocean is also fluid, so locations are always on the move. Dr. Josh Kohut is har-nessing radar and other sophisticated ocean observing tools to “see” the ocean map in real-time. His research then uses statistical models to understand how fish use these different ocean habitats.

A Balancing Act sustainable management of u.s. fish-eries requires harvest policies that are effective, even when there is some uncertainty. Dr. John Wieden-mann is testing the effectiveness of different manage-ment policies to identify how best to both prevent over-fishing and allow for large fishery landings. Results from this work will aid directly aid fisheries managers.

Reef Recovery When Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philip-pines on november 8, 2013, it was the strongest known storm ever to make landfall. storms, however, have been hitting reefs offshore for millennia. How do reefs recov-er? What allows some reefs to recover and causes others to continue degrading? Dr. Malin Pinsky aims to under-stand the damage caused by storms and the processes that allow recovery after the storm passes. Reefs that are re-seeded by baby fish spawned tens or hundreds of miles away, for example, may show higher resilience after the storm than those that rely only on local reproduction,

Just the Basics While the way we detect and sample fishes is improving all the time, we still lack a basic un-derstanding of the life history and ecology of many eco-nomically important species. In order to fill this gap, Dr. Ken Able and colleagues along the east coast are using multiple approaches in estuaries and on the continental shelf from the new York Harbor to the Gulf of Mexico. Current projects include studies on the response of fishes to man-made structures (e.g. piers), restoration efforts, and disturbances (e.g. the BP oil spill).

new Publications

Dubois, N., Oppo, D. W., Galy, V. V., Mohtadl, M., van der Kaars, S., Tiernery, J. E., Rosenthal, Y., Eglinton, T. I., Luckge, A., Linsley, B. K. 2014. Indonesian vegetation response to changes in rainfall seasonality over the past 25,000 years. Nature Geoscience. doi: 10.1038/NGEO2182

Saba, G. K., Fraser, W. R., Saba, V. S., Iannuzzi, R. A., Coleman, K. A., Doney, S. C., Ducklow, H., Martinson, D. G., Miles, T. N., Patterson-Fraser, D. L., Stam-merjohn, S. E., Steinbergy, D. K., Schofield, O. 2014. Winter and spring controls on the summer food web of the coastal West Antarctic Peninsula . Nature Communications 5:4318 doi: 10.1038/ncomms5318

Lathrop, R. G., Jr., S. M. Haag, D. Merchant, M. J. Kennish, and B. Fertig. 2014. Comparison of remotely-sensed surveys vs. in situ plot-based assessments of sea grass condition in Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey USA. Journal of Coastal Conservation. 18: 299-308 doi:10.1007/s11852-014-0319-y.

Kopp, R. E., Horton, R. M., Little, C. M., Mitrovica, J. X., Oppenheimer, M., Rasmussen, D. J., Strauss, B. H., Tebaldi, C. 2014. Probabilistic 21st and 22nd century sea-level projections at a global network of tide gauge sites. Earth’s Future. doi:10.1002/2014EF000239

Free, C. M., Jensen, O. P., Mason, S. A., Eriksen, M., Williamson, N. J., Boldgiv, B. 2014. High-levels of microplastic pollution in a large, remote, mountain lake . Marine Pollution Bulletin dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.06.001

GET YOUR RU OCEAN SWAG!!!!Rutgers Oceanography tea-shirts have arrived for the Summer. Proudly wear the Rutgers Oceanography tea-shirts with funds being raised to host science socials for the undergraduate and graduate students. Tea-shirts go for $15 and will make you look atheltic, smart, and dashing. Such a great deal for a great cause. Contact Sarah Kasule if interested ([email protected]). To see the quality people your contribution would sup-port check out our featured graduate students at http://marine.rutgers.edu/main/Featured-Student/.

Please help us enable Rutgers oceanogra-phy to support the next generation!

Rutgers oceanography needs your support to meet the environmental and educational challenges facing the world today. Your support is critical to enabling high risk and high reward research, developing students to be the leaders of tomorrow and bringing the public with our scientists into the ocean. Your private gifts will cre-ate new laboratories, student fellowships, endowments and feed ambitious new programs. Come join us!