Sea Grant News

Reaching Higher Ground: Tsunami Preparedness Videos Online

What would it look like if a 35-foot-high tsunami wave smacked Seaside? How can research and public education help the city and its residents prepare?

These questions are addressed in two new short videos produced by the Oregon Sea Grant program at Oregon State University (OSU) and available for viewing at http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/video/

Sea Grant is funding a research project at the OSU Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory, where scientists repeatedly send miniature tsunamis crashing into a scale model of Seaside. The project is led by Dan Cox, director of the Hinsdale lab and professor in OSU’s College of Engineering. But equally important to Sea Grant’s goals is engaging the Seaside community with tsunami preparedness information. While Cox hosted wave lab visits with city officials and emergency response teams, education efforts for Seaside’s citizens were led by Sea Grant’s coastal hazards Extension specialist, Patrick Corcoran.

The work of Cox and Corcoran is highlighted in the videos. The feature video, Reaching Higher Ground, describes Seaside’s vulnerability in context of similar earthquake and tsunami events such as those in 1964 in Alaska, and in 2004 in Sumatra.

All three of these regions are located in geologic subduction zones, making them especially vulnerable to tsunami wave damage. An earthquake in the Cascadia subduction zone, west of the Oregon coast, is capable of sending that 35-foot-high wall of water rushing toward Seaside and other cities along the coast.

Reaching Higher Ground runs 14 minutes and features interviews with scientists, engineers, tsunami preparedness educators, and coastal residents. In a second, shorter video, The 3 Things You Need to Know, Extension specialist Corcoran offers succinct preparedness steps to take as well as strategies for surviving tsunamis.

Report: West Coast needs more research on fisheries, marine science, climate change

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The West Coast critically needs more research about fisheries, ocean health, coastal hazards and climate change – among other topics – according to a new report on regional marine research and information needs.

The report was produced by Oregon Sea Grant under a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It is available online.

Partnering with Oregon Sea Grant in developing the West Coast report were Washington, California and University of Southern California Sea Grant programs, as well as state, federal and tribal agencies. The Sea Grant effort is endorsed by all three West Coast governors, and the new reports aligns with the action plan of the West Coast Governors’ Agreement on Ocean Health.

The document grew out of an extensive process of public workshops and surveys in all three states during 2007 and 2008. Nearly 1,000 ocean and coastal stakeholders – representing interests ranging from coastal residents, businesses, community organizations and decision-makers to conservationists, fishing interests, researchers and resource managers – took part in the effort to identify the region's needs.

The result is a 56-page document that sorts West Coast research needs into eight categories:

• Vitality of coastal communities and marine operations;
• Ocean and coastal governance and management of multiple uses;
• Fisheries and aquaculture;
• Marine ecosystem structure and function;
• Ocean health and stressors;
• Physical ocean processes, related climate change and physical coastal hazards;
• Water quality and pollution;
• Resilience and adaptability to hazards and climate change.

Cutting across all those categories, stakeholders said, are needs for a deeper understanding of climate change, attention to ocean education and literacy, and broader access to data and information. The report is seen as “an excellent guiding document,” according to Stephen Brandt, director of Oregon Sea Grant, which coordinated the effort.

“This report is intended to spark regional-scale initiatives and investments in natural and social science research to provide the best possible science for wise policy and resource-management decisions,” Brandt said.

The West Coast effort is one of 10 that NOAA is supporting across the country in response to recent studies and reports from groups such as the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative calling for a regional approach to coordinating, planning and setting priorities for ocean and coastal science.

Oregon Sea Grant, founded in 1968 and based at Oregon State University, supports an integrated program of research, education, and public outreach to help people understand, responsibly use, and conserve ocean and coastal resources.

Crabbers collaborate with OSU researchers to monitor ocean temperature, hypoxia

CORVALLIS, Ore. (June 9, 2009) – In a unique, symbiotic relationship, Oregon crabbers are working with Oregon State University researchers funded by Oregon Sea Grant to use their crab pots as underwater monitoring stations where data collectors attached to the pots gather vital oceanographic information.

This information might help crabbers more effectively locate their catch while helping scientists provide answers to challenging research questions, such as why and when hypoxia zones form in coastal waters.

Historically, some fishers say they have been wary of researchers for fear that the data gathered would be used to close fisheries or restrict catches and seasons. Likewise, some scientists have been skeptical of the quality of data collected using research technologies in the hands of fishers.

But this project, and other shared research efforts at OSU, demonstrates that fisher-researcher collaboration can work very well, collecting robust data, reducing research costs and helping better understand Oregon’s most valuable fishery: Dungeness crab.

“It’s taken some time to develop trust on both sides, but we’ve figured out that engaging the fishermen actually improves the data,” said Michael Harte, a professor in the OSU College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences and director of the Marine Resource Management Program. “This is fantastic for us. It would cost many thousands of dollars to deploy a single scientific buoy, but by working with the crab fishermen, we can deploy fixed buoys for about $100 each (the cost of the device).”

Because crab pots are positioned using GPS and distributed throughout much of Oregon’s coastal ocean, data can be gathered from a much broader geographical range than using high tech ocean observing methods, such as buoys, towed platforms, or autonomous underwater gliders, which are expensive to purchase and operate.

The temperature data collectors attached to the crab pots are each about the size of a quarter and record temperature data every 10 minutes during the nine-month crabbing season. The information is then scanned and uploaded to computers for analysis and evaluation by project participants.

The OSU researchers, led by oceanographer Kipp Shearman, are working with 10 Oregon crabbers, attaching sensors to about 60 crab pots deployed between Port Orford in the south to Astoria in the north. Most commercial crabbers use between 300 and 800 pots, so the OSU scientists are able to select the locations where they want their sensors deployed.

“One real benefit is that by using the crab pots, we’re increasing both the temporal and spatial resolution of the data,” said Jeremy Childress, an OSU graduate student in Marine Resource Management who is working with Shearman and Harte. “We’re also utilizing the local knowledge of fishers to help direct our research, which is very helpful.”

Al Pazar, a crab fisherman who lives in Florence and fishes out of Newport, said helping OSU researchers collect data is his way of giving back to an industry that’s provided him with a solid livelihood for many years.

“Fishing’s been very good to me, and I’m happy to give something back,” Pazar said. “I love working with OSU, and Sea Grant in particular has helped establish a good connection between Oregon’s fishing industry and academia. The data gathering we do might help answer some important questions. It’s a no-brainer to utilize the local volunteers from the fishing fleets and their gear.”

Childress said that bringing people together who’ve traditionally not worked together is “the really the exciting part.” He credits former OSU graduate student Susan Holmes, who expanded statewide the project started by Shearman off Newport with seed funding from Oregon Sea Grant.

Because of the success of the temperature sensors, Childress and Shearman have developed a larger device that can record both temperature and dissolved oxygen levels in the water near the crab pots. This information could help scientists better understand and predict hypoxia, a lack of oxygen in the water that causes massive die-offs of organisms, including crab, in areas sometimes called “dead zones.”

Although off-the-shelf oxygen sensors are available, Childress is able to build a custom made sensor for about one-third the cost of the others.

“No oxygen means dead crabs or no crab, so the crab fishermen are happy to work with us,” Harte said. “They and their crab pots are going to be out there anyway, and we don’t need huge research grants to tap into this ready-made ocean observing system.”

Harte said he and his colleagues are fortunate to have had Oregon Sea Grant funding the project for two years.

“Sea Grant has been visionary enough to realize this is a great way to engage fishermen in science,” Harte said. “So we’re learning that scientists and fishermen, working together, can collect valid scientific data in a robust way using a relatively inexpensive system that improves our understanding of the ocean. Everybody wins.”

Rip Currents Could Play Role in Increased Coastal Erosion

CORVALLIS, Ore. (Mar. 11, 2009) – Amid growing concern about rising sea levels triggered by global warming, Oregon Sea Grant researchers at Oregon State University (OSU) are discovering that rip currents might play a role in coastal erosion because they create rip embayments, or low areas on sandy beaches, that expose nearby land to higher rates of erosion by wave activity.

“There is now evidence that we’re experiencing larger coastal storms and increased wave heights that result in larger waves along shorelines,” said Merrick Haller, a coastal engineering professor at OSU who led recent research on embayments. “When rip currents pull sand offshore, they leave behind rip embayments, which become ‘erosional hot spots’ where the beach is much thinner, making the sea cliffs or land beyond these embayments more vulnerable to erosion caused by larger waves.”

Rip currents form in places where the water that is driven ashore with the waves drains back out to sea forming a current perpendicular to the coastline. Swimmers can be caught in these currents and pulled offshore. The Pacific Northwest is known for having strong rip currents, probably due to large swells offshore, said Haller, whose research study focused on several beaches along the Oregon coast.

Using funding provided by Oregon Sea Grant, and building on earlier research conducted by OSU’s Paul Komar, an emeritus professor in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Haller and his research team studied the morphological characteristics of these embayments to better determine how rip currents form embayments. The team also studied whether or not the locations of embayments can be predicted.

“A major challenge is to predict where rip currents will appear, because if we knew how to predict them, we could not only warn swimmers, we could also predict where erosion will likely occur farther inland from the embayments they form,” Haller said.

This knowledge would be helpful for coastal development. Many structures currently sited along the coast were built before it was known that rip embayments influence erosion.

In 2006, Jonathan Allan, a coastal geomorphologist with the Oregon Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries who helped Haller with the embayment research study, documented a sea cliff that eroded approximately 20 feet in a single weekend to within a few feet of an existing home near Gleneden beach.

Haller catalogued existing embayments using several years of LIDAR data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The data were used to find the locations of embayments as well as the topography of the exposed beaches near the embayments.

“We wanted to know if these embayments show up in the same places, or if they migrate north or south in a certain pattern depending on wave conditions,” Haller said. “What we found is that where they form seems to be random; they showed no tendency to always show up at the same spots, nor did they appear to migrate, and they tended to disappear in less than six months.”

But Haller’s team wanted to learn how rip embayments form and under what conditions. So they ran computer model simulations, the findings of which suggest that embayments might preferentially form during moderate storms, instead of large storms as previously thought.

“When waves are really big, they start breaking way offshore, so by the time they arrive onshore, the energy is dissipated and erosion is spread uniformly along the beach,” Haller said. “But our findings suggest that there appears to be a middle range of wave heights that lead to a strong feedback between wave breaking and the shape of an incipient embayment. This feedback can drive a strong rip current and further embayment formation. Hence, embayment formation may be more prevalent during moderate storms.”

But Haller is quick to point out that more research is needed before concrete conclusions can be reached. Many other factors may play a role in embayment formation, including sand grain size, antecedent wave conditions and rock outcrops in shallow areas of the ocean. This near shore area is also challenging to study because it is shallow, waves are constantly breaking and LIDAR cannot penetrate murky water.

Recently, Haller and Peter Ruggiero, an OSU professor of geosciences, have assembled a specialized personal watercraft equipped with echo sounders, computers, and a GPS system to collect bathymetry data in these shallow areas near shore.

This data will add to their understanding of how rip embayments form, helping the researchers eventually find ways to predict how and where rip currents and their embayments develop.

Sea Grant Extension Veterinarian Helps Control Virus in Koi Ponds

CORVALLIS, Ore. (Jan. 28, 2009) – Call him the koi doctor. An ichthyologist a la koi. The koi keeper’s confidant.

His patients are living works of art – brilliantly painted Picassos that swim in elaborate ponds and fetch up to $70,000 a piece. When disease strikes, the fallout can be disastrous, costing koi keepers in Oregon and around the world hundreds of thousands of dollars.

One half of a two-man SWAT team called in to render medical support for ornamental fish, Oregon State University’s Tim Miller-Morgan is a Sea Grant Extension veterinarian for aquatic pets, based at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Ore.

His specialty is koi, brightly colored varieties of the common carp (Cyprinus carpio) originally developed in the mountainous Niigata region of Japan in the 1800s. Rice farmers who were raising karp for food noticed interesting color variations on certain fish and began breeding them for the unusual patterns.

Miller-Morgan’s success as a fish doctor is the result of a gamble taken by the OSU Extension Service and Oregon Sea Grant. They hired him six years ago to work alongside OSU professor Jerry Heidel, director and pathologist at the OSU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, and launch an ornamental pet fish health program in the state.

It was a gamble that’s paid off, putting OSU—and Miller-Morgan and Heidel—at the epicenter of ornamental fish health and disease prevention practices.

“Oregon Sea Grant took a chance to develop this program in a state where ornamental fish are not thought of much,” Miller-Morgan said. “The fact this has blossomed into a international program shows there was a real need. It’s been amazing.”

Through the program, Miller-Morgan has taught seminars in 25 US states, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, and next month he’s off to India.

The ornamental fish industry worldwide is estimated at $15 billion. In the Pacific Northwest, water gardening and koi keeping are major hobbies, particularly in the metro areas. One Portland couple, for instance, installed an elaborate koi pond, then built their house around it.

What’s unique about the OSU program is that Miller-Morgan and Heidel are serving ornamental fish hobbyists, as well as the small business owners that sell fish to hobbyists.

“Nobody’s doing this,” he said. “Other extension programs primarily serve the fish farmers. We also serve the small dealers, helping them implement good health management practices, which keeps disease from spreading to hobbyist aquariums and ponds.”

Miller-Morgan spends about half his time working with koi keepers, retailers and importers, mainly trying to prevent the spread of a hard-to-detect koi herpes virus that can be fatal for the fish and devastating for hobbyists.

“When I was hired, I never imagined that koi would be such a big part of the job,” he said. “But this virus can kill off 90 percent of the population in a pond in about 14 days. And if any fish survive, they’re carriers for life, so you can’t ever show them again.”

Because many koi are so valuable, Miller-Morgan’s work has taken on a critical urgency. No vaccine is available yet in the U.S. to prevent the virus, which first appeared 10 years ago and has evolved into seven different strains.

The virus attacks the fish’s gills, destroying cells, and also impacts the skin, kidney and the gastrointestinal tract, damaging the fish so severely that other disease agents move in.

That was part of the reason it took years to positively identify the virus. The secondary diseases mask the virus, and detecting it requires advanced diagnostic techniques. The virus was first identified in the U.S. by a fish veterinarian working in the Midwest.

Miller-Morgan said this shows the value of veterinarians being involved in the ornamental fish industry. Now that the virus can be identified, he and Heidel and their program are taking steps to prevent its spread.

“We’ve spent a lot of time in the past few years educating people about the importance of quarantine on disease,” Miller-Morgan said. “Fish are often moved through the system so quickly the disease doesn’t develop until the fish are in the hobbyist’s pond.”

Although the U.S. currently has no quarantine requirements in place, Miller-Morgan and Heidel are developing a certification process for U.S. dealers who adhere to practices that reduce the risk of introducing the virus. Through a series of seminars and presentations, they hope many koi dealers will eventually become certified – a change hobbyists will welcome.

What draws people to koi keeping? Miller-Morgan’s not sure. But for some, it appears to be akin to collecting art. “It’s like they’re buying a Picasso…a piece that will live 30 to 40 years and grow up to 36 inches long,” he said.

Most local hobbyists are not into the reproduction, breeding or developing lines. Fish farmers do that.

“Local hobbyists simply enjoy the fish as pets,” Miller-Morgan said. “You can almost think of koi as Labradors that live in water. They will eat out of your hand, and they eventually recognize the person who feeds them.”

Even amid the current economic downturn, these hobbyists are still very committed to keeping up their ponds, he said. Which means Miller-Morgan will continue making the rounds as the koi doctor, dispensing medical advice and helping ensure the ornamental fish industry stays healthy.

Visit Tim Miller-Morgan’s blog, “Words from a Wet Vet”

Experts Explore Pathways to Salmon Resilience in New Journal Issue

Corvallis, Ore (Jan. 28, 2009) - Is there anything really new to be said about the prospects for salmon in the Pacific Northwest? Yes, says a group of experts, including several from Oregon State University (OSU); their new perspectives are collected in a special feature issue of the online journal Ecology and Society .

The special feature issue is titled “Pathways to Resilient Salmon Ecosystems”; access to the journal is free and open to the public.

Scientists, politicians, pundits and the public have been discussing the future of salmon since at least the 1870s, said Dan Bottom, an editor of the special issue and both a research fisheries biologist for NOAA Fisheries and courtesy faculty in the OSU Department of Fisheries and Wildlife.

“The special issue of Ecology and Society offers on the one hand a critique of traditional command-and-control management of natural resources and on the other a search for scientific, political, and institutional alternatives for salmon conservation,” said Bottom.
“Unlike previous assessments of the ‘salmon problem,’ our special feature proposes an alternative conceptual framework for understanding human and natural interactions with salmon and for designing conservation approaches that will strengthen salmon ecosystem resilience.”

Resilience – the ability of a system to absorb disturbance without losing its characteristic structure or function – is the key idea that links articles in the issue together. The articles arose from a 2007 Oregon Sea Grant conference that assembled a broad range of experts for an unprecedented exchange about social-ecological resilience.

Among the OSU co-editors and authors of the “Pathways” special feature, besides Bottom, is Courtland Smith, Professor Emeritus, OSU Department of Anthropology. Susan Hanna, OSU Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics, is a contributing author, as are Carmel Finley of the History department and Gordon Reeves, a research fish biologist with the Forest Service and courtesy faculty in the OSU Department of Fisheries and Wildlife.
Seven articles are currently online and several more papers will be added soon. The editors introduce the issue with an overview of key features of ecosystems that have been overlooked by conventional fishery management approaches but that become a focal point when resilience thinking is applied to salmon. Case studies in salmon ecosystem resilience and articles that synthesize a range of research and case studies follow.

Contemporary gillnetters on the Columbia River have adapted their own strategies for resilience, but as author Irene Martin explains, depleted salmon populations and recent listings under the Endangered Species Act have taken a severe toll on local communities and could threaten their continued advocacy on behalf of salmon.

Yet, as several of the papers discuss, an adequate accounting of social and ecological resilience has far-reaching implications for natural resource management. Historian Carmel Finley concludes that historical entrenchment of the maximum sustained yield concept in fisheries policy, science, and law, has made it difficult for scientists and policy makers to implement new policies that enhance ecological resilience. OSU economist Susan Hanna discusses the challenge of designing institutions to promote ecosystem and human system resilience, emphasizing two critical elements of salmon ecosystem management that are missing from the existing institutional infrastructure—incentives and transaction costs.

OPB-OSG invasives program wins major broadcast award

CORVALLIS (Jan. 21, 2009) – Columbia University has awarded Oregon Public Broadcasting a 2009 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for its Oregon Field Guide special, “The Silent Invasion.”

The documentary illustrates how invasive species are changing the environment in Oregon. It was produced by OPB in partnership with Oregon Sea Grant, which is based at Oregon State University, and by other organizations.

The award is considered the broadcast journalism equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize.

Sea Grant Extension aquatic invasive species specialist Samuel Chan and graduate student Gwenn Kubeck served as technical advisers and content sources for portions of the production. OSU’s Chan led a team to China that “fully integrated OPB’s producer Ed Jahn and videographer Nick Fisher as members along on an exploratory research visit,” he said.

Their experience of the interconnected global nature of invasive species figures prominently in the documentary, according to Jeff Douglas, OPB’s senior vice president and station manager.

“The research Gwenn and Sam did into public awareness about the issue of invasives and what messages motivate the public to take action were important contributions to how OPB crafted the documentary,” Douglas said. “Not only did that information help us decide which stories to tell but also gave us insight into what would motivate viewers to get involved after watching the program.”

“The Silent Invasion” premiered on OPB in April 2008 and marked the kickoff of the "Stop the Invasion" campaign, which encourages community partners and citizens to collaborate in their efforts against invasive species. Before the premiere, public preview presentations on the OSU campus in Corvallis and at the university’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport were organized jointly with Oregon Sea Grant.

Surveys about Adapting to Changing Climate Reveal Coastal Concerns

CORVALLIS, Ore. - (Jan. 15, 2009) Coastal officials and owners of coastal property in East and West coast states don’t need to be persuaded that climate change is happening. They believe that both government and individuals should begin taking action now to adapt to expected effects.

These are among several insights from surveys conducted in Oregon and Maine by the Sea Grant programs in those states. The surveys, launched in parallel in early 2008, are believed to be the largest studies to date to focus on United States’ coastal populations and the challenge of adapting to the expected effects of coastal climate change, such as a rise in sea level. Most climate surveys focus on opinions related to reducing the causes of global warming.

In Oregon, survey participants were 300 individuals, all of whom make decisions regarding development in the coastal zone. They included representatives of both the public sector, such as city planners, city council members and state agency personnel, and the private sector, such as realtors, geotechnical consultants and bankers.

In Maine, 548 homeowners and 55 coastal public officials took the survey.

The surveys were designed to obtain particular insights about the specific groups, and so some questions differed between the Maine and Oregon surveys, and some questions differed between the Maine homeowner and public-official versions. But other important questions were identical for all respondents in both states, said Joseph Cone, project leader and assistant director of Oregon Sea Grant.

“Across the board, a large majority of all respondents are concerned about climate change and believe both governments and individuals should take immediate steps to both reduce the causes of climate change as well as prepare for expected effects,” said Cone.

That most climate change surveys focus on opinions about reducing global warming can sometimes make the changing climate seem like a distant or impersonal issue, he said, “ -- a matter of polar bears or cap-and-trade emission-control schemes.” The Oregon and Maine surveys revealed coastal residents who are very aware of the direct effects of climate change on them,

Oregon participants, for instance, were specifically asked to list up to five risks that they associate with the effects of climate change on the Oregon coast. The survey question did not prompt with risk examples. Two hundred eighty of the 300 respondents identified at least one risk.

“Psychological research shows that people judge risks by both facts and feelings, analytically and from personal experience,” said Cone. “Personal experience with some of the environmental risks associated with living along the coast under existing circumstances probably made respondents more attuned to risks associated with climate change. For them, climate change is not distant or abstract.”

In both states, coastal erosion, sea-level rise, and increased flooding associated with climate change topped participants’ lists of concerns. Within these topics, their effects on existing infrastructure, such as seawalls, roads and sewage treatment plants, were important concerns.

A rise in sea levels is one of the greatest concerns globally with climate change, said Cone, but he noted that different locations are currently expecting quite different rises. The State of Maine officially is preparing for a two-foot rise in sea level during this century, and numerous, often expensive, beachfront homes, are likely in harm’s way. Rules established there in 2006 place some limits and conditions on new construction and reconstruction in designated erosion hazard areas.

Susan White, project co-leader and associate director of Maine Sea Grant, said, “Maine is way ahead of the curve in terms of regulations for both construction and reconstruction of personal dwellings and of seawalls in erosion hazard zones. However, many coastal property owners are frustrated by the difficulty in navigating through these regulations when they just want to protect their homes.”

The two surveys found that public officials in both states are more likely than private citizens to consider themselves well informed about climate change effects, and the officials believe that climate change will require action from them in the next two years (72 percent of officials in Maine; 64 percent in Oregon). But they also perceive specific barriers in the way of taking action: workload, funding and critical information.

In Maine, approximately half of the officials indicated they already have a full load at work and can’t add another activity. But over four-fifths of respondents indicated they would be willing to take action in their work if they had compelling information about anticipated risks and if there were adequate funding.

The Oregon public sector responses are similar; nearly four-fifths of respondents wanted compelling information about risks and adequate funding in order to act.

Perhaps as significant as these considerations for some, said Cone, was the perceived lack of urgency regarding local climate change effects from those who influence or assign the work to respondents. Fewer than two out of five respondents in both states were hearing a sense of urgency.

While the results of the surveys are substantial and informative, they cannot be construed as strictly representative of the coastal populations of either state, because of the way the surveys were conducted.

“Given the novelty of the subject of adapting to coastal climate change and our desire to have as large a response from our survey audiences as possible, we did not randomly sample,” said Cone. “Nevertheless, we feel that the results are constructive and will help us assist our coastal communities, as they become ready and interested in adapting to climate change.”

The surveys are part of a larger joint project between the states funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Climate Program Office’s Sectoral Applications Research Program.

Study Shows Surfers Ingest 10 Times More Water than Swimmers, Divers

CORVALLIS, Ore. (Dec. 22, 2008) – In the first study of its kind, scientists at Oregon State University (OSU) and the Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality have found that surfers unintentionally ingest 10 times more water than swimmers or divers, putting them at higher risk of contracting gastrointestinal (GI) illnesses when surfing in contaminated waters.

The study also suggests that because the water quality at Oregon beaches is significantly better than more popular surfing destinations, such as California, Hawaii, or Florida, the risk of GI illness is lower for people surfing the frigid waters of the Oregon coast.

“While the risk for Oregon surfers is not high for GI illness, our findings suggest that surfers who spend longer periods of time in recreational waters, or who surf in more contaminated locations, are likely to be at higher risk of contracting GI illnesses,” said David Stone, an assistant professor in the OSU Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology.

The study, funded by Oregon Sea Grant, used a Web-based survey to collect voluntary responses from 520 of the estimated 12,000 surfers in Oregon. Participants estimated the amount of water they ingest during a typical recreational day, and the researchers used historic water quality data collected at six popular surfing beaches to calculate the risk of infection from fecal bacteria using enterococci as an indicator organism. (In 2004, enterococci took the place of fecal coliform as the new federal standard for water quality at public beaches because it provides a higher correlation than fecal coliform with many of the human pathogens often found in city sewage.)

The results of this Sea Grant study could be useful to public health and environmental officials responsible for beach sampling and advisory thresholds. “On beaches popular with surfers, for example, officials might want to consider lowering the advisory threshold because surfers ingest higher doses of water than swimmers,” said Anna Harding, a professor in the OSU Department of Public Health who collaborated with Stone on the study.

Bruce Hope, an environmental toxicologist with the Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ), who also collaborated in the study, said the results could help regulators see the value of using more informative techniques instead of simple standards.

“Regulators often focus simply on whether an environmental condition, such as a bacteria count, is above or below some guideline or standard. While this is useful and expedient, it can leave stakeholders wondering, ‘What’s the chance of my getting sick?’” Hope said. “This study provided the opportunity to apply risk assessment techniques to answer such questions, and, from the DEQ’s perspective, we were able to show that it was practical to use these more informative techniques to address real-world concerns.”

One of the study’s challenges was having surfers accurately estimate the amount of water ingested during a typical recreational day due to unanticipated head submersions, chaotic wave activity, and other factors of the sport that cause water ingestion. To help participants better estimate amounts, Harding asked them to select from common measurements instead of milliliters: a few drops, 1-3 teaspoons, the amount of a shot glass (1-2 ounces), or the amount of a juice glass (4 ounces). Sixteen percent reported a few drops, 51 percent reported 1-3 teaspoons, 21 percent reported a shot glass, and less that two percent reported a juice glass.

Study participants were also asked to identify beaches where they had surfed in the previous 12 months from a list of six popular surfing beaches in Oregon: Short Sands Beach, Cape Kiwanda State Park, Agate Beach, Otter Rock Beach, Humbug Mountain Beach, and Bastendorff Beach. Water quality data indicated that Humbug Mountain Beach, the southern most beach studied, was the most contaminated, while Otter Rock Beach on the central coast was the least.

The researchers worked with the Surfrider Foundation, a grassroots environmental organization, and OregonSurf.com to post the online survey and recruit participants, who ranged in age from 18 to 64 and had surfed an average of 12 years.

“Surfers are always online checking the weather and surf conditions, so doing the survey on the Web with this population went very well,” said Harding. “Within two months, we had 520 unique responses.” Surfers are also interested in water contamination and are very environmentally aware, Harding said.

Pete Stauffer, the ocean ecosystem project manager for the Surfrider Foundation, hopes the study helps illustrate the need to reduce bacterial levels in coastal waters.

“The study’s findings demonstrate a key relationship between nearshore water quality and public health,” Stauffer said. “Given the prevalence of surfing and other forms of ocean recreation in Oregon, this provides additional justification for the need to monitor and reduce bacterial contamination in our coastal watersheds and ocean beaches.”

With an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 surfers in Oregon alone, the economic impact on coastal communities is significant.

“What’s comforting is that our study doesn’t suggest surfers are subjected to unacceptable risks for gastrointestinal illness.” Stone said. “But surfers should be aware that they are swallowing a fair amount of water. This is especially important when surfing after a big rainfall, near outfalls or in other locations where the level of contamination may be higher.”

West Coast Regional Research Planning Draft Available for Public Comment

CORVALLIS, Ore. (Dec. 18, 2008) – A draft report on ocean and coastal research and information needs on the West Coast is available for public review and comment from the Oregon Sea Grant Web site.

The report, developed by Sea Grant programs in Oregon, Washington and California after extensive public involvement, can be downloaded in .pdf format here. The deadline for comments is Jan. 16.

The Sea Grant project is part of a national effort to identify and set priorities on marine science needs and to encourage collaboration within and among geographic regions to address those needs. Partners in the effort include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Western Governors' Association.

The four West Coast Sea Grant programs – Oregon Sea Grant, Washington Sea Grant, California Sea Grant and the University of Southern California Sea Grant – held a series of workshops in 2007-08 to solicit suggestions for research and information priorities from stakeholders, including marine scientists, resource managers, government and nongovernmental groups, and coastal residents and business interests. Those suggestions, along with results of online surveys in all three states, form the backbone of the draft report now under review.

Once the public comments are in, the draft will be used to develop a research and information plan. That plan will include regional priorities for investments in research that will provide a sound scientific background for resource policy and management decisions throughout the region.

HMSC Visitor Center launches online bookstore

NEWPORT, Ore. (Dec. 3) - Looking for the perfect holiday gift for your favorite beachcomber, birder or budding marine biologist? The Visitor Center Bookstore at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center may have just what you're looking for in its new e-commerce store.

Part of the OSU Marketplace, the new outlet offers convenient, secure, on-line ordering for a selection of the bookstore's most popular titles, including children's books, field guides to ocean plants and animals, and marine science curriculum resources for teachers and home schoolers.

Bookstore manager Lynne Wright plans to add additional product lines, from DVDs and posters to apparel, as time permits. "We see this as an additional way to serve our visitors and other long-time customers, as well as a means of reaching out to those who may not yet have had a chance to visit the Oregon coast," Wright said.

The on-line store accepts orders from anywhere within the continental United States. Customers from Alaska or Hawaii, and those who wish to make bulk orders, should call the bookstore at (541) 867-0126 to arrange for the best shipping rates.

Proceeds from the bookstore help support public and k-12 marine education programs conducted at the HMSC Visitor Center by Oregon Sea Grant.

Founded in 1968 and based at OSU, Oregon Sea Grant supports research, education, and public outreach to help people understand, responsibly use, and conserve ocean and coastal resources.

For news about science, marine education and related activities on the Oregon coast, subscribe to “Breaking Waves,” the Oregon Sea Grant news blog.

NOAA Leader Named Oregon Sea Grant Director

Corvallis, Ore. (Aug. 7, 2008) -- Stephen Brandt has been named the Director of the Oregon Sea Grant Program, based at Oregon State University (OSU).

Brandt, currently Director of the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will officially begin his Oregon duties in January 2009. Brandt replaces Robert Malouf, Oregon Sea Grant director from 1991 until his retirement in June. Jay Rasmussen, Sea Grant’s associate director and Extension program leader, is serving as interim director.

Brandt has been Director of the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) since 1997. Both an oceanographer and freshwater scientist by training, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and has had several academic appointments, including as a professor with the University of Maryland’s Chesapeake Biological Laboratory and as Director of the Great Lakes Center for Environmental Research and Education with the State University of New York College at Buffalo. The ecology and management of marine and freshwater ecosystems are his principal scientific interests and expertise. He is an author on more than 90 scientific articles, has given over 220 scientific presentations, led over 80 scientific research cruises and has received many awards, including the prestigious Presidential Rank Award.

“Steve Brandt is not only a talented scientist, he is a nationally-recognized scientific leader,” said John Cassady, OSU’s Vice President for Research. “Under his leadership, the NOAA Great Lakes lab has grown significantly and has established a reputation for innovation and collaboration.”

During the first seven years of Brandt’s tenure as director of the Great Lakes lab, its federal budget grew by more than 50 percent, to over $9 million. In 2004 he created a NOAA Center of Excellence for Great Lakes and Human Health, obtaining $7.2 million in funding for 11 institutions. He also created the NOAA National Center for Invasive Species Research, headquartered at GLERL. During 2006, Brandt served as deputy assistant administrator of all NOAA Research, helping to oversee about 900 employees and a budget of over $300 million.

For all this, Brandt said he is “extremely pleased” to be taking over the leadership of Oregon Sea Grant. “It is well recognized as one of the best Sea Grant programs in the nation, particularly noted for its strength in Extension, communications, and education,” he said.

“Now we’re embarking on a new era,” he added, “in which there are great opportunities for forward-looking research and new partnerships that address both the needs of Oregon and the vital Pacific region of which we’re part.”

While the Oregon Sea Grant program has a 40-year history of marine research and outreach, Brandt is no stranger to Sea Grant. In 2001 he started a Great Lakes Sea Grant Extension Office at GLERL that represented a first-in-the-nation effort to connect NOAA research to the outreach capabilities of Sea Grant (which is a partnership between NOAA and the states). He also serves in advisory capacities to the Michigan and Wisconsin Sea Grant programs and as a reviewer of science projects for numerous programs.

But his Sea Grant roots go even deeper. As a Wisconsin graduate research assistant, he was a “Sea Grant scholar”; and in the mid-1980s he was the named “Sea Grant fisheries professor” with the State University of New York. In that capacity he succeeded Robert Malouf -- just as he now will as the Oregon Sea Grant director.

Persons interested in news about science, marine education and related activities on the Oregon coast may subscribe to “Breaking Waves,” the Oregon Sea Grant news blog.