SCSGC Text Version - Events, Conferences and Meetings

South Carolina’s blue crab, which supports a $5-million-dollar commercial fishery, can be one of the most difficult species to manage. The state’s blue crab population fell sharply during drought years of 1999 to 2003, and also is vulnerable to water pollution, winter freezes, habitat destruction, tropical storms and fishing pressure.

Now, Sea Grant researchers Michael Childress, a Clemson University biologist, and Elizabeth Wenner, a marine scientist at the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, are developing an innovative computer model to help manage the blue crab fishery in South Carolina. Their computer model is a new tool that uses a scenario planning framework to evaluate risks to blue crab populations and make recommendations to fishery managers. “We’re testing ‘what if’ scenarios to determine the impact of changes in water quality and fishing pressure on blue crab populations,” said Childress. “How sensitive are blue crabs to changes in temperature, salinity, oxygen levels or fishing pressure?”

Using a traditional fishery-population model, managers can track the number of a particular fish species living in an ecosystem, what size those fish are, and then with this information they make predictions on allowable catches to sustain the fishery. One limitation of the traditional fishery-population model is that it usually assumes that a species occupies a single habitat. Blue crabs, however, have multiple life stages in various habitats from salt-marsh creeks to open ocean waters during their lifetimes. “During various life stages,” Childress said, “the blue crab can grow at different rates, experience predation at different rates and can be subject to different kinds of mortality from changes in its environment.” As Wenner further explains, “When blue crabs are juveniles, for example, they are particularly vulnerable in tidal creek nursery areas to heavy predation from mature blue crabs and fish.”

Childress and Wenner’s computer model attempts to address complex interactions between various habitats and life stages of the blue crab. It follows simulated individual blue crabs through time as they occupy habitats and encounter changing environmental conditions in the Ashley River near Charleston. In this way, the model simulates the dynamics of the entire blue crab population in the river. The model is based on theoretical principles of population biology and longer-term environmental data collected in specific locations in the Ashley River by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.

The model can be used to quantify the benefits of various management techniques on blue crab populations. “Managers could evaluate how much of an increase in fishing pressure it would take to see a decrease in blue crab populations,” Childress said. “You could compare the relative benefits of alternative management strategies such as reducing the number of traps or closing areas.” Managers also could determine economic impacts on the fishery of a disease outbreak, a tropical storm or an oil spill.

Eventually, Childress and Wenner will expand the model to include other regions of the South Carolina coast, and the program will be made available for public use through a Web-based, user-controlled interface. The computer model could be used in public discussions of management strategies and in marine science courses.

To see the Ashley River population model in action and learn more about South Carolina Blue Crab Regional Abundance Biotic Simulation (SCBCRABS) project, visit the project Web site at www.clemson.edu/SCBCRABS

The state of South Carolina is seeking nominations for an award to recognize individuals doing extraordinary work for the natural environment.

The S.C. Environmental Awareness Award, now in its 14th year, acknowledges outstanding contributions made toward the protection, conservation, and improvement of South Carolina’s natural resources.

Each year the public is invited to submit nominations that are then reviewed by an awards committee, which includes representatives from the state’s natural resource agencies. In judging nominees, the committee considers excellence in innovation, leadership, and accomplishments that influence positive changes affecting the natural environment.

Members of the awards committee represent the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, S.C. Forestry Commission, and S.C. Sea Grant Consortium.

Nominations will be accepted through December 15, 2005. Nomination guidelines and forms are available, or contact Ann Nolte at (803) 734-9093, e-mail: noltea@dnr.sc.gov

9th International Conference on Shellfish Restoration
November 15-19, 2006
Charleston, South Carolina
This conference, to be held in 2006, will provide an opportunity for resource managers, shellfish farmers, and community activists to exchange ideas and information to restore molluscan shellfish populations while improving water quality and the environmental health of our estuarine and coastal systems. Those interested in participating should request more information by contacting Elaine Knight: e-mail: Elaine.Knight@scseagrant.org or Dot Leonard, email: msmussel@oceanequities.org. If you would like information on submitting an abstract, contact Rick DeVoe: e-mail: Rick.Devoe@scseagrant.org.

3rd International Symposium on Deep-Sea Corals
November 28–December 2, 2005
Miami, Florida
Understanding the ecosystem role, function, and value of deep-sea corals and associated fauna has become a priority topic for many national governments and international regional resource management bodies. This international symposium will facilitate global exchange of current scientific knowledge on deep-sea corals and associated fauna and to discuss possible statutory means available to conserve and protect deep-sea habitat. For more information, visit http://conference.ifas.ufl.edu/coral

July 2005
Coastal Heritage
Coastal Heritage won a 2005 APEX for One-to Two Person-Produced Annual Reports for Coastal Heritage – Science Serving South Carolina’s Coast 2000-2004. APEX Awards are based on excellence in graphic design, editorial content and the ability to achieve overall communications excellence.

February 2005
Coastal Heritage
Coastal Heritage won a “Best of Show” in the Technical Publications category for the North and South Carolina chapter of the Society for Technical Communications (STC) and went on to win the international competition, where it won an “Excellence Award.” Entries were drawn from chapters and regional competitions in the United States, Canada, 13 European nations, Australia, and Israel and was the competition’s highest award given to a magazine.

Coastal Heritage, Vol. 18, No. 4, Spring 2004, “Science Serving South Carolina’s Coast: Program Highlights 2000-2004” won a Grand Award from CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) in their District III Advancement Awards Program in the Annual Reports 1 program category for it’s outstanding content, graphic design, and communications effectiveness.

July 2004
Coastal Heritage
APEX 2004 Awards – Coastal Heritage, a quarterly magazine published by the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, recently won an APEX Award of Excellence for its outstanding technical writing.

March 2004
Coastal Heritage
Coastal Heritage, the quarterly magazine published by the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, has won a 2004 Award of Special Merit in Other Magazines category in the CASE (Council for the Advancement and Support of Education) District III competition. The magazine covers issues of coastal and marine-resource policy, science, and history.

August 2003
Coastal Heritage
APEX Grand Award – Coastal Heritage, a quarterly magazine published by the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, recently won an APEX Grand Award for its outstanding editorial content, graphic design and communications effectiveness. There were 722 magazine and journal entries, of which 11 won the Grand Award. The APEX awards are sponsored by Communications Concepts, Inc.

This is the second time Coastal Heritage has won a Grand Award. According to the APEX judges, Coastal Heritage is “simply superb…inviting writing, clean, classic design… that pulls readers in and won’t let them go.” Coastal Heritage is written by John Tibbetts and art directed by Patty Snow. The magazine covers issues of environmental policy, science and history.

April 2003
Coastal Heritage
Sea Grant Week 2003 Publications Award – Coastal Heritage, a quarterly magazine published by the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, recently won a Blue Ribbon Award for its outstanding editorial content, graphic design, and communications effectiveness.

July 2001
113 Calhoun Foundation
Project Impact Livability Award for Historic Preservation - from FEMA, who noted the foundation's efforts toward integrating historic preservation and disaster resistance at 113 Calhoun Street: A Center for Sustainable Living, a permanent education facility in Downtown Charleston, SC.

The publication, which contained the Consortium’s five-year report, also garnered an Award of Excellence for printed annual reports as well. 347 annual reports were submitted and nineteen chosen to receive the Award of Excellence.

Edward G. Sutt, Jr.
Outstanding Wind Engineering Ph.D. Award - from Friends of Dr. Marshall, Dr. Scanlan, and the organizing committee for the Americas Conference on Wind Engineering - 2001.

Mr. Sutt, who won the award for his outstanding dissertation "The Effect of Combined Shear and Uplift Forces on Roof Sheathing Panels," was a S.C. Sea Grant supported research student at Clemson University.