Category Archives: Extension

Glowing shrimp? Not to worry, say Sea Grant specialists

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NEWPORT, Ore. – Some Oregonians who recently purchased pink shrimp at the coast or at large retail stores have called Oregon State University’s Lincoln County Extension Office over the past few days to report a rather unusual trait.

Their seafood was glowing in the dark.

What sounds other-worldly is actually surprisingly common, according to Kaety Hildenbrand, an OSU Sea Grant Extension specialist who works with coastal fishing communities. Marine bacteria can cause glowing or luminescence when they grow on seafood products – a trait that may be exacerbated by the adding of salt during processing.

The important thing to remember, she said, is that “glowing” seafood does not present a food safety problem, nor does it reflect mishandling during processing.

(Read more)

1998 US FDA report on glowing seafood

Sea Grant names three finalists for Extension leader post

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Oregon Sea Grant has named three finalists for the post of Sea Grant Extension program leader, being vacated by the retirement of Jay Ramussen. The candidates, who have been invited to the Oregon State University campus in May for interviews and public presentations, are:

  • Professor Conner Bailey,  Department of Agriculture and Rural Sociology,  Auburn University
  • Dr. Tom DeGomez, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson
  • James Humphreys, Fisheries Director, Americas for the Marine Stewardship Council, Seattle, Washington

Details about the candidates and their interview schedules are  posted on the Sea Grant Web site . We hope to offer an online video feed of their public presentations for those unable to attend; when the video links are available, they will be listed there as well.

Ramussen, who has served as the program’s Associate Director as well as leading a 17-member Sea Grant Extension team since 1996,  formally retired earlier this year but has been serving on an interim basis until his successor is named. Earlier this month, he was the recipient of OSU Extension’s Alberta Johnson award for exemplary leadership.

Sea Grant Extension is the public outreach and engagement arm of Oregon Sea Grant, bringing the resources of research and higher education to bear on real-world issues important to those who live near, earn their livelihoods from, and care about the state’s ocean and coast.  Extension faculty and staff work on the Oregon coast and across the state to address critical marine and coastal issues. They  include include community-based agents, subject-matter specialists and educators based at OSU’s  coastal research stations, in county Extension offices and on the main OSU campus in Corvallis.

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Jay RasmussenJay Rasmussen, Sea Grant Extension program leader since 1996, is the recipient of the 2009 Alberta Johnson Award for Excellence in Extension Leadership, presented earlier this month by Scott Reed, OSU Extension Service Director and Vice Provost for University Outreach and Engagement.

Reed called Rasmussen “an incubator of ideas” and “an outstanding leader  whose philosophy of encouragement, mentoring, and support inspires individuals and groups to bring out the best in themselves and others.”

The Vice Provost’s words echoed those of Sea Grant Extension faculty who nominated their program leader for the honor, which is intended to recognize and reward people who’ve made outstanding contributions to the Extension Service through creative and effective administration and leadership.

“Jay is open to listening as we share ideas and dream about creative possibilities,” the nominating team wrote. “His passion for the program and his interest in our professional growth stirs us to excitement and continual learning.”

As program leader, Rasmussen has helped shape and guide a team of   17 marine Extension faculty, both on campus and in communities the length of the Oregon coast.  Oregon Sea Grant Extension has been praised by  federal reviewers as a “best practices” model for the other 29 Sea Grant College Programs across the country.

An historian by education, with a Master’s from the University of Utah, Rasmussen served for 17 years as executive director of the Oregon Coastal Zone Management Association before joining Sea Grant. He is a past chair of the National Sea Grant executive committee and the Assembly of Extension Sea Grant Program Leaders, and serves on the Oregon Water Resources Commission.

Rasmussen formally retired early this year, but is continuing in a a part-time  interim role while the university seeks his successor.

Oregon Sea Grant’s Pat Corcoran quoted in NY Times article on tsunamis

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Pat Corcoran, hazards outreach specialist for Oregon Sea Grant, was quoted in an article that appeared in the February 28, 2010, NY Times, “Chilean Quake a Warning to U.S. Northwest“:

“The release of pressure between two overlapping tectonic plates along the subduction zone regularly generates massive 9.0 magnitude earthquakes –- including five over the last 1,400 years. The last ‘Big One’ was 309 years ago. We are in a geologic time when we can expect another ‘Big One,’ either in our lives or those of our children. Prudence dictates that we overcome our human tendencies to ignore this inevitability.”

He was also quoted extensively in an Associated Press article appearing in the Feb. 27 Seattle Post-Intelligencer, among other places. (“Tsunami barely registers in Pacific Northwest“).

Corcoran appears in an Oregon Sea Grant video about tsunami preparedness called Three Things You Need to Know. You can view the 3-minute video here. Oregon Sea Grant also has a 14-minute video about tsunami preparedness called Reaching Higher Ground. Watch it here.