News Archives 2003 January  March  April  May  June  Sept  Oct  Nov

May 2003 Topics     current topics

• Consortium-nominated student wins fellowship
• DeVoe appointed SGA external relations chair
• Sea Grant collaborates on shrimp-industry planning
• What we do from a kid’s point-of-view
• Mark your calendars – Beach Sweep/River Sweep
• Grand Strand beach nourishment scenarios
• Coastal Heritage wins Blue Ribbon Award

Consortium-nominated student wins fellowship

Jennifer Jefferies, a College of Charleston graduate student pursuing a M.S. in marine biology, is one of 33 people chosen to receive the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship for 2003. Jefferies is working in the NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources, Division of Permits, Conservation, and Education in Washington, D.C. The division develops, implements, and administers programs for the conservation of protected marine mammal species, including issuing permits for scientific research and public display.

To further the education of tomorrow’s leaders, the National Sea Grant Office sponsors the Knauss fellowship, which brings a select group of graduate students to the nation’s capital where they work in the federal government’s legislative and executive branches. Students learn about federal policy regarding marine and Great Lakes natural resources, and lend their scientific expertise to federal agencies and congressional staff offices.

or, scroll down to continue

DeVoe appointed as Sea Grant Association’s external relations chair

Rick DeVoe, executive director of the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, has been appointed chair of the Sea Grant Association’s External Relations Committee (ERC) by SGA President Bob Stickney. The External Relations Committee coordinates SGA’s interactions with external audiences, including the U.S. Congress, the White House Office of Management and Budget, NOAA and other federal agencies, and non-governmental organizations such as the Coastal States Organization, National Marine Sanctuaries Foundation, and National Association of Marine Laboratories, among others.

DeVoe, who is immediate past president of the SGA, is currently working with the ERC on FY04 appropriations for the National Sea Grant College Program. Last year, he worked with the SGA to help secure passage of a bill to reauthorize the National Sea Grant College Program within NOAA; the bill was signed into law by President Bush on November 26, 2002.

or, scroll down to continue

Sea Grant collaborates on shrimp-industry planning

The S.C. Sea Grant Consortium is working with other partners to assist the South Carolina shrimping industry write a strategic plan for long-term sustainability in the state and region. Inexpensive, farm-raised shrimp has been dumped on U.S. markets, creating havoc for shrimp harvesters and producers throughout the South. A recent long-term drought has also helped to drive down U.S. shrimp harvests.

The federal government has provided for the dissemination of $35 million in direct assistance for the domestic shrimping industry. Of that, about $3 million is to come directly to South Carolina for emergency drought assistance and long-term planning.

With guidance from Clemson University, the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, and other agencies, the South Carolina shrimping industry is developing a plan that highlights five agenda items.

First, the local industry needs to improve marketing of its product to distinguish domestic shrimp from imports, and to enhance its value in the marketplace.

Second, the industry should encourage improved risk-management tools among shrimpers, such as improved business planning.

Third, the industry needs better techniques for quality assurance, so that consumers can easily distinguish between domestic shrimp and imports.

Fourth, the domestic industry should organize to gain better government institutional support, such as aid in marketing domestic shrimp.

Finally, the industry needs to improve its physical infrastructure. “It’s becoming harder to find dock space,” says Robert Bacon, program leader of the S.C. Sea Grant Extension Program. “The infrastructure is aging, and dock owners need help with getting facilities repaired.”

or, scroll down to continue

What we do from a kid’s point-of-view

Lee Bundrick, a fourth-grade student at Chapin Elementary, won second place in the TaxsmART: Picture Your Taxes™ program for his depiction of the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium. A merit award went to third grader Dominique Steward, also at Chapin. Susan Ferris, public information specialist, attended the award ceremony in Columbia to congratulate the students on behalf of the Consortium.

Organized by the S.C. Department of Revenue, TaxsmART educates the State’s future taxpayers on the sources and uses of South Carolina’s tax dollars. The program encourages young citizens to explore the function of state agencies, visualize how the State’s tax dollars work, and research career opportunities in state government. Children research a state agency, and then draw what they think that agency represents.

The award-winning artwork was displayed in the State Museum atrium during the tax season for all to enjoy.

Mark your calendars

The 15th annual Beach Sweep/River Sweep will be held on Saturday, September 20, 2003 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Last year, nearly 6,000 volunteers cleared over 59 tons of trash from South Carolina’s beaches and waterways. To find out how you can help, contact Susan Ferris, coastal coordinator, at (843) 953-2078 or susan.ferris@scseagrant.org

or, scroll down to continue

Researchers to forecast Grand Strand beach nourishment scenarios

The Grand Strand could have a renewable source of nourishment-quality sand in a giant shoal only a few kilometers offshore. Or this huge mound of sand could be impractical as a source of nourishment material. Or the truth could lie somewhere in-between.

Over the next two years, Sea Grant researchers hope to learn how this giant shoal is maintaining itself in that location and to what degree it could be mined to build up some of the Grand Strand’s eroding beaches, while not worsening erosion someplace else along the shoreline.

The elongated shoal, which includes about 30 trillion cubic meters of sand, extends for 10 kilometers in a north-and-south direction offshore from the Grand Strand. The northern tip of the shoal closest to the shoreline is only about two kilometers from the beach. The shoal falls away from a depth of about eight meters to deeper water about 10 kilometers from shore.

George Voulgaris, a physical oceanographer/geologist at the University of South Carolina, and civil engineer Paul Work of Georgia Tech, are studying the ocean’s circulation and wave patterns in the Grand Strand region to learn whether mining certain areas of the shoal for nourishment sand will affect the beach.

The amount and rate of beach erosion is determined in part by where waves strike the beach and their size and force. One problem is that if sand is mined from a shoal, the incoming waves can be modified. As a result, waves can be shifted to different areas along the beach. These processes can create new erosion hot spots.

The Sea Grant investigators will take measurements of the nearshore area of the Grand Strand. They will measure waves as they strike the shoal and then waves in shallower waters closer to the beach. They will also measure currents driven by tides and wind action. These initial tests will provide information about how waves interact with the shoal and the beachfront, and how they mobilize the sand, which in turn gets transported by the currents.

The investigators will next plug these measurements into computer numerical models that mimic the shoal-wave interactions. By incorporating existing wind records over the past 20 years, the investigators can generate a “wave climate” for a particular stretch of beachfront.

Wind direction and speed, plus tides and currents, determine wave direction and intensity. “We can include in the numerical model any wave and current direction—the whole wave climate—and its total effect on the shoal,” said Voulgaris. With this model, the researchers can forecast how dredging the shoal might affect the beach.

But the model could also provide important information about how the shoal maintains itself, said Voulgaris. The shoal could be constantly nourished by sand moving offshore from the beachfront. That is, there could be a constant exchange of material between the beachfront and the shoal. The researchers will study whether a circulating relationship exists between the shore and the shoal, which could have implications for planning future nourishment projects.

“If I withdraw sediment from the shoal and pump it onto the beach, will this sediment eventually return to the shoal?” Voulgaris asked. “Or will it go out to the continental shelf and get lost? If the sediment returns to the shoal, then at least I know that I have a renewable source of nourishment sand to pump back onto the beach.”

or, scroll down to continue

Coastal Heritage wins Blue Ribbon Award at Sea Grant Week 2003

Coastal Heritage won the Blue Ribbon Award in recognition of excellence in the magazine category at Sea Grant Week 2003 in Galveston, Texas, April 27-30. Sea Grant Week is a biennial gathering of 30 Sea Grant programs in coastal and Great Lakes states and territories.

Coastal Heritage, produced by the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium communications staff, covers environmental policy, science, and history. For a free subscription, call (843) 953-2078.

News Archives 2000

News Archives 2001

News Archives 2002

News Archives 2003

News Archives 2004

News Archives 2005