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News from the Point
Virginia Marine Resource Bulletin
Fall/Winter 2008, Vol. 40, No. 1
Hampton boat tax study released
A survey of recreational boat owners who make Hampton their home port recently concluded that these boaters bring $55 million to the city and help create nearly 700 full-time jobs.
The study, conducted by Tom Murray and James Kirkley of VIMS and Doug Lipton of the University of Maryland, was commissioned by the city of Hampton. The authors surveyed both Hampton residents and non-residents who keep boats in the city to determine the economic impact of their boating-related activities.
In 2002, the boat tax in Hampton was reduced from $1 per every $100 of assessed value to $0.000001, and boat taxes have not been collected by the city since then. On April 8, the Hampton City Council discussed the study results and the question of whether to reinstate the boat tax. The council directed the city manager to calculate a boat-tax rate that would satisfy members of the public who think boat owners should pay taxes to help maintain the waterways and facilities they use, but that would not discourage boaters from continuing to call Hampton their home port.
A full report on the study can be downloaded at http://web.vims.edu/adv/econ/analyses.html.
Bishop Sullivan wins Blue Crab Bowl
Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School of Virginia Beach repeated as champions of the annual Blue Crab Bowl, a regional academic competition that tests students’ knowledge of the oceans. The team earned the right to represent Virginia in the National Ocean Science Bowl (NOSB©) in Washington, D.C., on April 25–27. There the team faced 24 other regional champions from around the nation. They won two out of three of their round-robin matches and made it to the third round of double elimination—further than any previous Virginia team has gotten at NOSB©.
This year’s Blue Crab Bowl, held at VIMS, featured sixteen teams representing fifteen high schools from all corners of the Commonwealth. Eighty students spent the day in heated tournament competition focused on the marine sciences. Grafton High School took second place. In third place was Chesapeake Bay Governor’s School-Glenns Campus, followed by Seton School of Manassas in fourth place. Seventy-five faculty, staff, and graduate students from VIMS and Old Dominion University donated many hours of their time to ensure the success of the event. Virginia’s contest, now in its twelfth year, is among the inaugural marine science bowls started in 1998.
Sea Grant funding awarded
Virginia Sea Grant has awarded $655,899 in support of seven new coastal and marine research projects:
Dynamics of ichthyoplankton ingress
Every year, tiny larval fish move from the offshore Atlantic into the Delaware and Chesapeake bays. Eric Hilton and John Olney of VIMS will identify patterns in the timing and abundance of shelf-spawned fish larvae that move into each bay and discern whether there are different physical mechanisms that influence differences in these patterns between the two estuaries. The research is a continuation of a Virginia—Maryland—Delaware partnership that will allow more complete and robust conclusions on the factors influencing variation in the abundance of the commercially and recreationally important fishes studied.
Thermal inactivation of bacteria in seafood
Salmonella sp. and Vibrio parahaemolyticus are the two leading sources of foodbourne illness caused by seafood. Michael Jahncke and Kumar Mallikarjunan of Virginia Tech will determine the temperatures necessary to kill or inactivate three strains of each of these disease-causing bacteria. Consumers and industry will benefit from knowledge of the proper times and temperatures required to cook seafood to destroy pathogens.
Uptake and elimination of contaminants from hard clams and oysters
Clams and oysters grown in urban waterways are at risk of contamination with disease-causing organisms from sewage-treatment effluent and runoff. One method used to reduce contamination levels involves moving the live shellfish to an uncontaminated waterway for a short time period before harvesting them. Howard Kator, Kimberly Reece, Corinne Audemard, and Martha Rhodes of VIMS will determine whether this is an effective method for the elimination of viruses and bacteria from clams and oysters naturally contaminated in Hampton Roads waterways.
New reproductive norm for the blue crab
For over ten years, the blue crab population in Chesapeake Bay has been at historic low levels and has not responded to bi-state management regulations designed to curb overfishing. Evidence suggests that this lack of recovery may be due to changes in reproductive characteristics such as the number and quality of eggs and sperm produced. John McConaugha of Old Dominion University will examine both male and female reproductive changes that may need to be considered in the design of management policies for blue crabs.
Producing fungal biomass as fish oil replacement in aquaculture
The fatty acids present in fish oils are an essential component of the diet of marine fish grown in aquaculture. However, fish oils obtained from wild fish pose a risk of heavy metal contamination, and depend on fisheries that must be limited to protect wild fish. Certain fungal species produce omega-3 fatty acids that could be used as an alternative to fish oil. Zhiyou Wen, of Virginia Tech, will investigate using crude glycerol derived from biodiesel production as a cheap source of carbon for growing omega-3 fatty acid rich fungi.
Effluent organic nitrogen in Virginia coastal waters
Nitrogen levels released from waste-water treatment plants are regulated in the Chesapeake Bay to help prevent high levels of nitrogen, which can lead to algal blooms and other problems in the Bay ecosystem. Different chemical forms of nitrogen are more or less usable by organisms (bioavailable) and thus more or less harmful to the ecosystem. Deborah A. Bronk of VIMS and Margaret Mulholland of Old Dominion University will study the bioavailability of a subset of the nitrogen released by treatment plants in order to better inform regulators about which types of nitrogen need to be most carefully controlled to protect the Bay.
Climate change impacts in Virginia
In order to respond to the effects of climate change in the Commonwealth, we need a better understanding of what those effects might be. Roger Mann, Carl Hershner, and Marcia Berman of VIMS will assemble and make widely available integrated databases describing past climate impacts on the ecosystems and environments of Virginia. These databases can be used for retrospective analyses of climate change trends. The data may also allow researchers to begin to make predictions about climate change effects on ecosystems in the Commonwealth, and to identify the economic effects of those effects.
VASG has also funded one program development grant and one regional project:
Conservation easements as a means of sustainable building
This program development grant to Scott L. Reichle of Old Dominion University will fund a legal analysis of how conservation easements can be designed to simultaneously provide: 1) financial benefit to the developer; 2) benefits to the end-users of the property; 3) overall positive environmental impacts; and 4) acceptable government impacts relating to issues such as long-term maintenance issues and tax consequences.
Forecasting the response of Delmarva lagoons to changing land use and climate
This regional project, jointly funded by the Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware Sea Grant programs, will be carried out by Mark Brush and Iris Anderson of VIMS; Lora Harris and Walter Boynton of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences; and Arthur Trembanis of the University of Delaware. The research will aim to link nutrients to ecosystem function, emphasizing the roles of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), algae, and other photosynthetic organisms.
Virginia Fishery Resource Grant Program
The Virginia Fishery Resource Grant Program, administered by VIMS Advisory Services, funds research by fishery-industry participants aimed at reducing the environmental impacts of fishing, restoring and protecting habitat, developing new aquaculture techniques, and developing seafood products to improve quality and efficiency. The program has awarded four new grants totalling $243,831:
New products from cownose ray
Cownose rays are abundant in Chesapeake Bay and are an important predator on oysters and clams. C. Meade Amory of L.D. Amory Co. will study the use of cownose ray meat and cartilage and on the development of efficient processing methods for rays.
Bycatch in Virginia’s spring striped bass gillnet fishery
George Earl Trice will test gear alterations intended to reduce bycatch of endangered Atlantic sturgeon in the gillnet fishery for striped bass. The research is a continuation of an ongoing study of the effect of gear alterations on sturgeon catch rates and whether the modified gear are as efficient at catching striped bass.
Channeled whelk assessment
Richard B. Robbins Jr. of Bernie’s Conchs will study size distribution, sex ratios, and size at reproduction in channeled whelks to help managers design effective and sustainable size limits for the whelk fishery.
Producing triploid oyster larvae using heat shock
A.J. Erskine of Cowart Seafood Corporation, will investigate heat shock as a method to produce triploid native oysters. Triploid oysters are desirable for aquaculture because they do not devote any of their food resources to reproduction and thus may grow faster and can be harvested during spawning season.
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