Greetings,
I am writing this month’s directors column on a beautiful afternoon at our Aquarium on Skidaway Island. There are at least two school groups and lots of public visitors here and all the spirited children and families running around really make me smile. It reminds me how lucky we are to have this facility as part of our University system and how important our educational efforts are to coastal Georgia.
I was able to visit our oyster hatchery this morning and am pleased that this year’s oyster spawning efforts are proceeding well. Tom Bliss and his staff estimate that we have almost two million oyster spat started in the hatchery and the natural spawning season has not even started yet. Let’s hope that the summer proceeds as well and that we are able to supply Georgia growers with even more spat than we did last year. While on the topic of the oyster hatchery, I would like to thank all the Georgia legislators who supported our efforts to obtain long-term state funding to support the oyster hatchery. While our efforts were not successful, between grant funding and a
While on the topic of the oyster hatchery, I would like to thank all the Georgia legislators who supported our efforts to obtain long-term state funding to support the oyster hatchery. While our efforts were not successful, between grant funding and a one-time supplement from the University System of Georgia, I am pleased to announce that we will be able to keep the hatchery up and running for at least another year. This is critical to our efforts to revive and grow the oyster industry in Georgia and bring new jobs to our coastal communities.
This month’s schedule also allowed me to attend several large regional meetings. The Governor’s South Atlantic Alliance hosted a meeting on living shorelines in Jacksonville, Fla., where partners from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina shared research, policy and education efforts related to increasing living shoreline implementation in the region. Presenters from Georgia discussed several of our statewide efforts including the living shoreline recently installed at the Tybee Island 4-H center.
While other states may have more projects implemented, I really think some of the long-term monitoring on the ecosystem impacts of these applications in Georgia is some of the best in the region. I also attended the Southeast and Caribbean Climate Community of Practice (CoP) workshop that Georgia hosted on Tybee Island. This workshop brought together individuals from local, state, and federal governments, academia, non-profit organizations and the private sector to assess how coastal communities and ecosystems can adapt to the impacts of sea level rise. Concurrent to the meeting, Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant wrapped up a multi-year effort working with the City of Tybee Island by presenting them with an adaption plan that was unanimously adopted by the Tybee Island city council. It was nice to be able to show off these efforts with so many regional friends and partners in the region. In addition to providing Tybee Island with several recommendations on steps to take to reduce the impacts of nuisance flooding, one of the most tangible benefits of the project was an improvement in the City’s Community Rating System score that should result in significant insurance savings for those that live in the community.
Concurrent to the meeting, Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant wrapped up a multi-year effort working with the City of Tybee Island by presenting them with an adaptation plan that was unanimously adopted by the Tybee Island city council. It was nice to be able to show off these efforts with so many regional friends and partners in the region. In addition to providing Tybee Island with several recommendations on steps to take to reduce the impacts of nuisance flooding, one of the most tangible benefits of the project was an improvement in the City’s Community Rating System score that should result in significant insurance savings for those that live in the community.
In addition to providing Tybee Island with several recommendations on steps to take to reduce the impacts of nuisance flooding, one of the most tangible benefits of the project was an improvement in the City’s Community Rating System score that should result in significant insurance savings for those that live in the community.
As always, thanks to dedicated faculty and staff and to your support and willingness to work with us, we continue to have an impact in Coastal Georgia!
Mark Risse,
Director, UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant