Rutgers Scientists and high school volunteers from Camden are using nature to mitigate the effects of coastal erosion in Southern New Jersey. They built a living shoreline near the New Jersey Aquaculture Innovation Center in Cape May that uses marsh grasses and recycled oyster and clam shells.
The university-led project is in response to a broader effort to protect critical coastal civilian and Department of Defense infrastructure and personnel at risk of climate change.
The Rutgers-led project, “Reefense: A Mosaic Oyster Habitat (MOH) for Coastal Defense,” will focus on oyster reefs in the Gulf Coast and combine novel cements and concretes with state-of-the-art shellfish breeding and the latest ecological engineering of shoreline habitats.
A consortium of scientists led by Rutgers University has developed a high-density DNA chip for the eastern oyster to better research and breeding.
Congratulations to graduate student Sophia Piper, who has been selected for the inaugural 2022 NJDEA Graduate Research Fellowship! Over the next year, as a NJ Wind Institute Fellow, Sophia and 12 other Rutgers graduate students will be a part of a state-wide cohort that includes fellows from Montclair State University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Rowan University.
Congratulations to graduate student Alexandria Ambrose, who has been selected for the 2022 Downeast Institute (DEI) Summer Graduate Research Fellowship! Alex will spend 13 weeks in residence at DEI conducting research on habitat provisioning at shellfish farms. DEI is the easternmost marine research laboratory and education center in the U.S., and is a University of Maine marine field station.
New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES) is a research and extension powerhouse that shares knowledge and best practices from its farms, labs, institutes and innovation hubs with residents and businesses in the state. Behind the scenes, NJAES teams are doing complex work that requires diverse skillsets, hands-on experience and keen problem-solving abilities.
Reduce discard mortality of black sea bass caught in deep water using this venting fact sheet.
Enjoy local farm-raised shellfish, using the NJ Shellfish Farm Directory produced by Rutgers University, NJ Sea Grant Consortium, and the NJ Aquaculture Association.