Seen in the Press

California Sea Grant Extension Specialist Kristin Aquilino leads the White Abalone Captive Breeding Program at UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory, which aims to bring the marine mollusk back from the brink of extinction by finding improved ways of coaxing the snails into reproducing. With the rise of a new noninvasive ultrasound tool that can be used to determine which abalone will be reproductive, the abalone team is hopeful that this method will raise the prospects of successful captive breeding efforts and ultimately help restore endangered abalone in the wild.

A new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts that sea-level rise will increase by up to 12 inches nationally in the next 30 years, the same amount its increased in the last 100 years. Laura Engeman, Coastal Resilience Specialist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and California Sea Grant Extension Specialist, was one of the practitioner reviewers of NOAA’s research.

The Fish to Families program buys fish from local fishermen and distributes healthy, fresh, and sustainable seafood meals to people in need. Extension Specialist Theresa Talley created educational evidence presented with the seafood meals meant to inform San Diegans about their local commercial fishing community and the sustainable seafood products they provide. Now, other sustainable seafood programs similar to Fish to Families are being established nationally to aid in COVID-19 relief.

California Sea Grant Extension Specialist Luke Gardner comments on the ambitiousness of an alternative cow feed project following the success of a UC Davis study that fed beef cattle red seaweed, reducing their methane output by 82%.

California Sea Grant Aquaculture Specialist Kevin Marquez Johnson is part of a recent study that identified Morro Bay Estuary as a priority location for restoring the native Olympia oyster population through conservation aquaculture. It's a project that unites shellfish lovers and conservationists on the Central Coast. 

A three-day symposium on the "Sustainable Blue Economy" was held virtually last week, sponsored by California Sea Grant, the Humboldt Bay Initiative and several local consulting firms. The symposium featured scientists, community activists and an economist, as well as government officials of all denominations, ranging from county planners to the head of a state agency.