Comments on: #IAmSeaGrant https://deepseanews.com/2017/03/iamseagrant/ All the news on the Earth's largest environment. Wed, 22 Mar 2017 17:41:29 +0000 hourly 1 https://csrtech.com By: Jarrett Byrnes https://deepseanews.com/2017/03/iamseagrant/#comment-21784 Wed, 22 Mar 2017 17:41:29 +0000 https://www.deepseanews.com/?p=57874#comment-21784 In reply to Brendan Turley.

This is wonderful! Might I use it for a second post and/or do you have an #IAmSeaGrant image?

]]> By: Brendan Turley https://deepseanews.com/2017/03/iamseagrant/#comment-21782 Wed, 22 Mar 2017 15:23:37 +0000 https://www.deepseanews.com/?p=57874#comment-21782 I am currently a PhD student at the University of South Carolina in the marine science program. I previously obtained a Master’s degree from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and my thesis was partly funded by VA SeaGrant; in fact if they did not fund it, I would probably have done something completely different. My story is not unique but it needs to shared to demonstrate the importance of the SeaGrant system. For my Master’s thesis, I partnered with a non-profit the Chesapeake Bay Foundation on an oyster restoration project. More to the point, the project was community-based in a residential watershed that was historically degraded. We enlisted volunteers to collect newly settled oysters to determine the genetic signature of recruitment events. The idea was to see if the oysters were related to the oysters that were planted in the river for restoration or from outside sources. We had hundreds of volunteers dedicated to environmental awareness and stewardship. Moreover, I enlisted high school students to help with data collection. The education and social impact of projects like these are hard to quantify but likely important and long-lasting. My experience is not unique but one of many stories that need to be told.

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