Author Archives: kightp

About kightp

Pat Kight is the web and digital media specialist for Oregon Sea Grant at Oregon State University.

Public forum aims to demystify ocean acidification, hypoxia

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How is Oregon's ocean affected by hypoxia and acidification?TILLAMOOK – Hypoxia and ocean acidification get a lot of press, but how many people know what these phenomena are, what causes them and what they mean for marine species and coastal communities? Now’s the chance to find out, in an Oct. 23 public forum that aims to take some of the mystery out of the science behind measuring, understanding and minimizing the effects of of these ocean conditions.

The forum, starting at 6:30 pm in rooms 214-215 at Tillamook Bay Community College, 4301 3rd St., is free and open to the public. Pre-registration is encouraged, but not required. For more information, visit the PISCO Website.

Organized by the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of the Ocean (PISCO) and Oregon Sea Grant, the forum will focus on cutting edge research by scientists from many disciplines, and how resource managers and industries are responding.  A series of speakers will address:

  • The definitions of ocean acidification and coastal hypoxia, and how they are related – Francis Chan, OSU Zoology/PISCO
  • Why this is happening off our coast and what makes Oregon vulnerable – Burke Hales, OSU College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS).
  • How scientists are monitoring the ocean for these changes – Jack Barth (CEOAS/PISCO)
  • The impacts of acidification on shellfish hatcheries – Alan Barton (Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery)

Speakers will be followed by a question-and-answer panel featuring scientists and representatives of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The event is hosted by PISCO through funding from Oregon Sea Grant.

Request for proposals: ocean contaminants, marine debris

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Oregon Sea Grant is soliciting research proposals for one-year grants on two topics of high priority to Oregon’s ocean and coast: Water contaminants, and tsunami-related marine debris. The submission deadline is 5 pm Nov. 5, 2012.

Sea Grant  and its citizen advisory council have identified contaminants in Oregon waters – both ocean and freshwater – as an important research issue for the state. The recent and anticipated arrival of marine debris from the March 2011 Japanese tsunami also raises timely research and public engagement questions. As a result, Sea Grant has set aside funding for between one and  four single-year grant proposals addressing either of these issues. The total available funding is $80,000.

This special funding call seeks proposals that apply the best science and an innovative approach to address either: 1) a well-defined coastal or watershed research question addressing contaminants, or 2) research related to tsunami marine debris.

All Oregon Sea Grant research grants must include public outreach and engagement components.

For more information, visit our Website.

HMSC volunteers return to sea – and blogging

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Michael Courtney and Annie Thorp aboard the RV Wecoma, 2011NEWPORT – Michael Courtney and Annie Thorp, longtime volunteers at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center, return to sea this week as support crew for Dr. Clare Reimers, an ocean ecologist and biogeochemist with OSU’s Colleage of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, who is studying the role of seafloor processes in ocean chemical cycles, the influences of low oxygen conditions on ocean biology, geology and chemistry, and new electrochemical tools for ocean observing networks.

Courtney and Thorp, who are husband and wife, have been volunteering at the HMSC Visitor Center since their retirement and have offered their services to shipboard research teams since 2009. They plan to once again chronicle their adventures in words and photographs through their blog, Buoy Tales.

As they wrote at the end of last year’s cruise with Dr. Reimers’ team, “Science is not just sitting in a warm, stable lab. It is also hard, hard work. Collecting the necessary data means being cold, wet, getting dirty, laying on a rough, rolling deck adjusting sensitive equipment, taking samples in an enclosed van under a dim red light, and working in a lab that won’t stand still.”

This voyage will be on board the R/V Oceanus, OSU’s new research vessel. The research team is loading and setting up equipment today, and expects to depart tomorrow for a cruise lasting until Oct. 15, taking the science team to the waters of the the continental shelf off the Pacific Northwest coast.

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OSG’s Cone to speak at Marylhurst climate forum

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Joe ConePORTLAND – Joe Cone, Oregon Sea Grant’s assistant director and a veteran science writer and videographer, will speak on the science of communicating with the public about climate change at this Saturday’s Climate Change Forum at Marylhurst University.

Cone, who leads the OSG communications team, has been a principal investigator on multiple NOAA-funded research projects with partners in Oregon and across the country, studying how sound information, when grounded in research understanding of the views and concerns of local residents, can help coastal communities  prepare for the changes that will come with climate variability. In addition, he has produced a number of publications aimed at applying social science insights and principles to science communication.

Those projects have resulted in two videos, based on surveys of public knowledge and opinion, addressing questions residents of Oregon and Maine have about the changing climate. Cone has also produced a podcast, Communicating Climate Change, featuring audio and video interviews with leading social scientists on the subject.

His talk, scheduled for 2 pm Saturday, will address “Communication About Climate Change: Research and Practical Experience.” Cone is one of several speakers from OSU.

Learn more:

 

Sea Grant’s Mark Whitham on home-canning albacore tuna

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Mark Whitham, Oregon Sea Grant’s Extension seafood product development specialist, was featured recently on Portland TV station KATU’s AM Northwest program‘s Edible Portland feature in this video about how to home can albacore tuna, one of the Pacific Northwest’s tastiest, most healthful and sustainably harvested fish:

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HMSC octopus takes up painting for OCTOber

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Octopus painter (photo by Jeffrey Basinger)NEWPORT – October is Octopus Month at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center, and to celebrate the occasion – and give the animal mental and physical stimulation – aquarists have taught Squirt, the resident giant Pacific octopus, to paint.

Aquarist Kristen Simmons, Aquarium Science student from Oregon Coast Community College, was the brains behind the mechanism, which allows the octopus to remotely manipulate a number of paint brushes against a canvas sitting outside its tank, while working to open a plastic toy containing food treats. “I did this to combine animal enrichment and public education.” she said, “The art gives people a different way to experience this animal behavior.”

“While a painting octopus is very entertaining and captures our imaginations,” explained Dr. Tim Miller-Morgan, aquatic veterinarian for Oregon Sea Grant and the OSU Veterinary School, “the real purpose behind this activity is to provide behavioral enrichment for these very curious and intelligent animals.”

The giant Pacific octopus exhibit has been a centerpiece at the HMSC Visitor Center since 1965. Generations of visitors have fond remembrances of seeing the octopus for the first time, and for the past few years, thousands more all over the world have enjoyed viewing the animals over a live, streaming OctoCam. “The octopus holds a very special place in the hearts of our visitors” said Becca Schiewe, Volunteer Coordinator for the Visitor Center. “Coming face to face with such an intriguing and intelligent animal opens people up to learning more about the wonder and mystery of the ocean.”

Evidence for octopus intelligence abounds: the leggy invertebrates can use tools, solve problems, and display remarkable curiosity. HMSC Aquarists strive to come up with new ways to challenge the animals during their tenure in the exhibit tank, including toys and puzzles – with a tasty bit of fish tucked inside – the octopuses quickly learn to open and disassemble. The painting mechanism takes the

Squirt’s colorful paintings have already captured the attention of community artists in Newport, and several have volunteered to collaborate with Squirt on shared works. Alex Krupkin, artist and molecular biologist based at HMSC, was the first to collaborate with Squirt. “The octopus’s artistic style is really bold, yet open to interpretation…the opportunity to participate in this collaboration is pretty exciting,” he said.

The octopus will create one painting a week during the month of October. Visitors who make an additional donation to the Visitor Center Octopus Fund will be entered into a weekly drawing for Squirt’s paintings and other prizes, including marine themed art from local artisans, and an “up close and personal” octopus encounter at HMSC.

On Oct. 20, the Visitor Center will celebrate Octopus Day, a showcase of all things octopus, including children’s activities, face painting, special guest speakers, and a 1 pm octopus feeding at 1 pm.

Learn more:

El Niño winter could bring higher temperatures, less snow to PNW

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El NinoA developing El Niño pattern is likely to bring higher temperatures – and less snow – to Oregon and the Pacific Northwest this winter, according to scientists at the OSU-based Oregon Climate Service.

Kathie Dello, the OCC’s deputy director said this year’s El Niño will likely be “moderate.”

“Where we really see the signal is in the temperature,” Dello said. “So, that’s bad for skiers because the temperature needs to be cool enough for the precipitation to fall as snow.”

The past two winters were categorized as La Niñas (lower temperatures, more precipitation) in the Northwest, and the Cascades received a significant amount of snow, setting winter snowfall records at popular mountain ski slopes. Mount  Bachelor was hit with so much snow at one pointthis past January that the ski area had to shut down for a day.

Dello said it 2012 saw one of the driest Decembers on record for the Northwest. “December was rough last year because everyone expected all this snow – skiers love La Niña,” Dello said. “It was happening, it just wasn’t happening the way we like it in the Northwest.”

The El Niño predicted for this year is expected to be in effect for the next three months, said Dello, citing forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center. That means the weather could change later in the winter.

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Fish protein coating could be key to lower-fat fried foods

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ASTORIA -Researchers at OSU’s Seafood Research and Education Center have come up with a fish protein coating they say significantly reduces the fat content of fried shrimp and other fried seafood dishes.

The protein solution is based on surimi, the minced and washed fish that’s transformed into a paste that can be formed into a variety of products, including popular imitation “crab.” The Astoria-based seafood center pioneered the science of producing tasty, protein-rich surimi, and is known world-wide for its annual Surimi School for seafood processors.

In Asia, surimi forms the basis of popular fried dishes – dishes which have an unusually low fat content (approximately 2 percent. That piqued the interest of Dr. Jae Park, head of OSU’s surimi research and education efforts.  With a grant from the Seafood Industry Research Fund (SIRF), Park’s team has been working on a project that turns some of that protein into a solution which can be used to coat other seafood products – and which appears to keep fried fish from absorbing so much fat.

“After doing some initial tests with typical fried US products like chicken nuggets and French fries, we saw that the fried surimi product was consistently low in fat,” said Dr. Jae Park, professor at OSU’s Department of Food Science and Technology and OSU Seafood Research and Education Center (Astoria, OR). “We thought if it’s the fish protein that is minimizing the fat uptake, how can we use that on other fried seafood to get the same results?”

After two years of research, Park and his team have developed a fat blocker solution from surimi protein that has successfully reduced the fat content of fried shrimp.

“Typically when you fry chicken nuggets or fish, you get a fat content of about 16 percent and 10 percent respectively,” explained researcher Angee Hunt. “When we fried the breaded shrimp by coating it with our fat blocker solution, the treated shrimp had 15 to 20 percent less fat compared to untreated shrimp.”

The scientists believe that the fish protein creates a protective layer around the food to reduce the fat uptake and retain the moisture, without altering the taste or texture of the product.

Oregon Sea Grant was an early supporter of surimi research by Park and other scientists at the Astoria lab.

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Newport, Reedsport chosen as finalists for wave-energy test facility

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New wave energy test platform and WetNZ testing deviceCORVALLIS, Ore. – The communities of Newport and Reedsport, Ore., have been chosen as the two finalists for the possible location of the Pacific Marine Energy Center (PMEC), a planned $25 million, “grid-connected” wave energy testing facility in the Pacific Northwest.

Officials at the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, or NNMREC, at Oregon State University said these locations offer the best advantages in cost, distance to shore and other factors.

Committees will now be formed in Newport and Reedsport to conduct more detailed local site analysis before a final decision is made.

After funding is complete and the site is established, PMEC, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and other organizations, will feature four test berths connected to a regional electrical grid, able to test individual, utility-scale or small arrays of wave energy devices. Completion of this facility is not expected for several years after funding is finalized. But when done, officials said it will provide jobs and economic growth while attracting researchers from all over the world who will use it to test their wave energy technologies.

“We’ve carefully weighed a number of factors and decided that Newport and Reedsport have the most advantages for this project,” said Belinda Batten, a professor at OSU and director of NNMREC.

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Admin update: Feedburner still working, for now

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It appears that the Feedburner blog subscription service is still working, although some of its features have been down for a week. If you are still receiving these updates, there is no immediate need to change your subscription to Breaking Waves. We are pursing other options in the event the service does disappear.