Breaking Waves

Oregon Sea Grant is looking for a graduate student to assist the Oregon Coastal Caucus in enhancing legislative knowledge and planning related to the Oregon coast and its communities.

Candidates for this position should possess a strong interest in coastal and marine public policy, effective communication skills, the ability to be flexible, and a desire to learn about the Oregon legislative process. The intern will be expected to be objective on issues, maintain a non-partisan role, and be respectful of the legislators’ varied opinions.

This internship is currently available from Sept. 24 – Dec. 21, 2007. There is a high likelihood that the internship will be extended through the 2008 Special Session and beyond, contingent upon funding.

Read more and learn how to apply.

The application deadline is Sept. 26, 2007

CORVALLIS, Ore. (Sept. 12, 2007)- An invasion of American beach grass is under way along the Oregon coast, threatening to change dune ecology and reduce the ability of dunes to protect roads, property and towns from coastal storms.

Sea Grant-funded scientists at Oregon State University have documented a slow but steady takeover by this beach grass, an invasive species. They found that protective “foredunes” covered by the new grass species are only about half as high as those created by the European species of grass that were formerly dominant.

(Read more …)

Oregon Sea Grant director Dr. Robert E. Malouf has announced he will retire Feb. 1 after 16 years leading the marine research, outreach, and education program based at Oregon State University (OSU).

Oregon Sea Grant is the largest of OSU’s institutes and programs. Malouf has had overall responsibility for all of Sea Grant’s activities, including its competitive grants, the Visitor Center of the OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center, and very active programs in communication, education and extension. Oregon Sea Grant employs more than 40 people on a budget that exceeds $5 million in state and federal funds annually.

Under Malouf’s leadership, Oregon Sea Grant has been consistently ranked as one of the very best Sea Grant programs in the nation in formal reviews. The last review (in 2005) put it simply: “Dr. Malouf has set a high standard for this program, and it has been met.”

The national review panel further cited the program as demonstrating several national “best management practices,” including strategic planning, decision-making, and program integration, all articulated and developed by Malouf.

The national recruitment and selection process for Malouf’s successor has recently begun. It is chaired by the OSU Associate Vice President for Research, Rich Holdren.

A native of Montana, Malouf’s affiliation with Oregon Sea Grant started in the program’s first year, 1968, when he received support as a new OSU master’s student in Fisheries. After earning his Ph.D. in Fisheries from OSU he joined the faculty of the Marine Sciences Research Center of the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook. While there from 1977 to 1991 he taught courses in marine fisheries, shellfisheries, and aquaculture. In 1987 he was named director of the New York Sea Grant Institute; he held that position until he succeeded Oregon Sea Grant’s original director, William Wick, on Wick’s retirement in 1991.

For more than 10 years Malouf served as a member of Oregon’s Ocean Policy Advisory Council and chaired the Council’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee. He has had numerous leadership positions with other state and national organizations.

Oregon State University (OSU) professor Chris Langdon wants to help feed the world by using tiny beads.

The OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center researcher is building a better fish food for use in aquaculture, enclosing nutrients and medicines in microscopic beads in order to deliver them to animals ultimately destined for the dinner plate.

Feeding farmed fish and shellfish exactly what they eat in the wild, or other live food, while desirable, poses a number of problems. “Live feed is often very expensive and of uneven quality,” Langdon said.

Read more at
http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/communications/releases.html#langdon

Oregon State University is seeking qualified applicants to lead the Oregon Sea Grant program following the retirement of Dr. Robert Malouf, who will have served as program director for 17 years.

Oregon Sea Grant, founded in 1968 and based at OSU, supports research, education and public outreach to help people understand, responsibly interact with, and conserve ocean and coastal resources and communities. Oregon Sea Grant is among the top programs within the network of 32 Sea Grant College Programs, organized under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The director provides overall leadership for Oregon Sea Grant, oversees a total annual budget of approximately $5M, and manages approximately 60 staff and faculty who carry out research, administrative, communication and outreach functions. He/she reports to the Vice President for Research at Oregon State University

To qualify for the position, an applicant must hold a terminal degree with professional experience and a record of excellence in research/ scholarship, policy, and/or management in marine or coastal science, natural resources, or a related field. Strong listening, writing and speaking skills, a record of innovative leadership and problem solving, and knowledge of ocean issues and coastal resources are required. Other requirements include experience managing research programs or large projects, a proven commitment to diversity and team building, and experience working productively with diverse sets of stakeholders.

Applicants with a PhD in a natural or social science or JD or MPA/MPP are preferred, as are those with significant experience with natural resource issues. Preference will be given to candidates with a demonstrated commitment to the Land Grant/Sea Grant concept of research, education, and outreach/extension. The university is seeking applicants whose records would be sufficient for appointment to the rank of full professor in an OSU academic unit. Prior experience working with NOAA/Sea Grant or other marine/natural resource organizations is desirable. Women and members of historically underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply.

Application must be made through the OSU Jobs Web site, via the following link:

http://jobs.oregonstate.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=51786

or by entering the following number in the site’s “posting number” field:
0001240

The application deadline is Oct. 15, 2007.

Rob Emanuel, Sea Grant Extension’s water resources educator, joins the ranks of Oregon Sea Grant bloggers with H2ONCoast, a new blog chronicalling the issues surrounding water quality, supply and water-related hazards in the temperate rain forest of Oregon’s North Coast. Emanuel, who serves the North Coast water- and watershed-related education, training, and technical assistance, promises research-based information, news and occasional opinion, along with perspectives from other sources around the region, the nation and the globe.

“it all comes down to a few simple facts with water,”writes Emanuel. “We can’t live without, we have to keep it clean, and we have to understand its cycle on the planet. This blog is about water in a wet place. “

Subscribe to H2ONCoast

The exotic plant in your garden, the unusual crab on the beach, the grasses choking a river or creek : If they aren’t from around here, they may be poised to wreak havoc with the local environment - and cost you and your neighbors money.

Oregon’s natural communities and the urban, suburban, rural communities we reside in are increasingly threatened by invasive species, a silent form of biological pollution that often goes undetected until it is too late to treat. Controlling invasive species and the problems they cause cost Oregonians tens of millions of dollars annually and over a billion dollars in the United States.

Sam Chan, Sea Grant Extension’s aquatic ecosystems health educator, will speak in Eugene on Aug. 9 as part of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry’s “Science Pub” series, which brings scientists and the public together in a casual pub environment to discuss developments in science and technology - while enjoying food and drinks. Adults only, no science background required.

What: OMSI Science Pub, The Invader in My Backyard: Invasive Species in Oregon
When: Thursday, Aug. 9, 7 p.m.
Where: Luna, 30 E. Broadway, Eugene
More information

NEWPORT - Sea Grant Extension’s Sam Chan and Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Ed Jahn team up on Monday, Aug. 20 for “Scenes of a Changing Coastal China: How Oregon and China are connected through a desire to control invasive plants and animals,” a presentation that starts at 12:30 p.m. in the Hatfield Marine Science Center’s Hennings Auditorium.

The presentation is based on a recent trip Chan led to China’s Fujien Province, where he and other invasive species and natural resource education and communications specialists from Oregon, Washington, and Florida got a first-hand look at how the Chinese are dealing with invasive marine grasses that threaten vital coastal mangrove forests.

The presentation is free and open to the public.

The following publications are available online at http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/sgpubs/onlinepubs.html

Giant Pacific Octopus

Make a Disposable Gaff for Releasing Rockfish from a Troller

Imagining a different world built with different tools [Keynote address by John Kitzhaber, Pathways to Resilience: Sustaining Pacific Salmon in a Changing World.]

Sea Grant programs in Oregon, Washington and California are collaborating on a NOAA-funded project to identify ocean and coastal research and information needs for the West Coast, and they’ve launched a new survey to find out what coastal residents, scientists, resource managers, and other stakeholders view as the critical issues that deserve scientific attention. The plan, required by the federal government and being developed in collaboration with West Coast governors, is meant to help guide future marine research planning and funding decisions throughout the region.

Interested in having your say in the process? Visit the Regional Planning Web site and take our survey.