MSRC ASSOCIATES DAYS
The MSRC Associates met for the second annual Associates’ Days on 14-15 September, l979. The Associates, together with officials of the University and MSRC faculty and friends, wielded mallets to pound open the blue crabs served at a crab and clam dinner held at the Center. Those present viewed a film produced by Prof. Malcolm Bowman that depicted the scientific activities on an MSRC cruise aboard the R/V RIDGELY WARFIELD. After dinner, several MSRC faculty members described their research activities to the Associates.
Prof. Iver Duedall showed a film on a study done in Conscience Bay that tested the environmental acceptability of an artificial fishing reef built there two years ago. This reef was constructed from blocks of stabilized coal wastes. The film showed how various species of fish and other organisms have made their homes among the blocks.
Prof. Henry Bokuniewicz discussed his efforts to measure the flow of groundwater into Great South Bay. The flow of groundwater, a freshwater supply that comes from the soil under the bay into the overlying waters, had never been directly measured before; it had been estimated indirectly by calculation. Using direct measurements from devices built from the ends of oil drums, Prof. Bokuniewicz estimated that 50 million gallons of groundwater enter the bay each day through its floor.
Prof. Bud Brinkhuis described the research he, his colleagues, and their students are doing on nutrient cycling in Great South Bay. One of these projects involves the cycling of nutrients among the phytoplankton, water, rooted plants and sediments of the bay. Prof. Brinkhuis discussed his assessment of the role of eelgrass in determining the distribution of nutrients in the waters throughout the bay.
Prof. Robert Malouf discussed the most pressing management questions of the Sl00 million/year hard clam industry in Great South Bay. He also gave a brief overview of the broad range of field and laboratory studies he and his students are conducting on the biology of the hard clam.
William Swan, the Center’s first Associate, presents award to Professor Henry Bokuniewicz.
BOKUNEWICZ RECEIVES DISTINGUISHED TEACHING AWARD
Professor Henry J. Bokuniewicz, Jr. was named by the Center’s graduate students as the recipient of the MSRC Associates Distinguished Teaching Award. Dr. Bokuniewicz received his Ph.D. from Yale University and joined MSRC in 1977. He teaches the MSRC core course in Geological Oceanography, which is a study of the geological processes that shape the seafloor and the shoreline.
Dr. Bokuniewicz is studying estuarine sedimentary dynamics, and has conducted research into the problems of dredging and the disposal of dredged sediments in coastal waters. Much of this work was done in Long Island Sound. He and his students are presently working not only in the Sound but also in the Hudson River, New York Harbor and along the north and south shores of Long Island.
RECENT AWARDS
Prof. Robert Malouf received an award from the New York Sea Grant Institute to continue his work on the dynamics of the Great South Bay shellfisheries.
Professors Harold O’Connors and Charles Wurster will study the behavior and biological effects of PCBs in aquatic and estuarine environments with support from the Marine Ecosystems Analysis (MESA) New York Bight Project.
Professors Henry Bokuniewicz and J. R. Schubel received a grant from the New York Sea Grant Institute and the New York Office of General Services to study the physical processes influencing the containment of dredged materials in mined pits on the floor of New York Harbor. Prof. Bokuniewicz also received support from MESA to study the modes of suspended sediment transport in the Hudson Estuary.
Professors E. J. Carpenter, W. E. Esaias, and B. H. Brinkhuis received an award from the Sea Grant Institute to study the nitrogen cycle in Great South Bay.
Prof. Orville Terry will evaluate macroalgae species as candidates for biomass production and methane Conversion. This Work will be done with a grant from the New York Sea Grant Institute.
PEOPLE AND MEETINGS
MSRC student C. LEE ARNOLD was elected to serve a two-year term on the board of directors of The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc. Clearwater, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that owns and operates the l06 ft. ship CLEARWATER, a full-scale replica of the sloops that dominated the Hudson River during the 19th century.
Prof. B. H. BRINKHUIS testified before the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Oceanography on 26 September l979. His testimony, which was given on behalf of the New York Sea Grant Institute, concerned the use of Seaweeds in the production of methane gas for the Marine Biomass Program.
Prof. EDWARD CARPENTER was appointed to the editorial board for a book to be published on the ecology of the New York Bight. The book is sponsored by MESA.
Prof. HENRY BOKUNIEWICZ was invited to serve on a panel on dredged materials. The panel was part of the MESA/NOAA Symposium on Ecological Effects and Environmental Stress in the New York Bight, which was held in June. Prof. Bokuniewicz was also invited to attend a workshop on the selection of sites for open water disposal of dredged sediments sponsored by the Army Corps of Engineers in July.
MSRC student ROBERT RICHMOND was one of eight students selected from throughout the U.S. to attend a special summer course on the biology of corals and coral reefs at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology at Oahu. The seven-week course emphasized studies in physiology and the use of fine microtechniques.
Prof. DONALD POWERS was an invited panelist at a three-day workshop on “Health Effects of Solar (Photovoltaic) Energy”, which was held at Brookhaven National Laboratory from 31 July-2 August 1979.
Prof. J. L. McHUGH was an invited participant at the New England Fishery Management Council held in Narragansett, RT in August. The meeting was called to develop criteria for fishery management councils. Dr. McHugh also attended a meeting of the New Jersey Marine Science Consortium, and participated in the National Aquaculture Workshop held in Chevy Chase, MD in September.
Prof. MALCOLM BOWMAN returned from a year’s sabbatical in New Zealand that was sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Division of International Programs. While on sabbatical, Prof. Bowman collaborated with Prof. A. C. Kibblewhite of Auckland University in the development of a numericcal tidal model of the Shelf Seas in central New Zealand.
Prof P. M. J. Woodhead and co-investigator Avril D. Woodhead of Brookhaven National Laboratory spent several weeks studying spiny dogfish at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory in Maine. The spiny dogfish is a small shark that occurs in large numbers off the northeast coast of the U.S.
Staff oceanographers JEFF PARKER and CHRIS SMITH gave an account of the C-WARP (Coal Waste Artificial Reef Program), including a short film presentation, at the Artificial Reef Conference in Daytona Beach, Florida. The conference was sponsored by the Florida Sea Grant College.
Prof. D. W. PRITCHARD presented the invited paper, “Background Problems in Fluorometric Dye Measurement in Natural Waters”, to a national meeting of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. and the Marine Technological Society.
On 1-2 October 1979, MSRC hosted a workshop devoted to comparing methodology for quantifying diffusion by drogues, dye tracers, and current meters. Participating scientists included J. T. F. Zimmerman (NIOZ, The Netherlands), W. Riepma (Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute, The Netherlands) , and C. R. Murthy (National Water Research Institute, Canada). Also attending were E. E. O’Brien and Rene Chevrey of SUSB’s Mechanical Engineering Department, and H. H. Carter, A. Okubo, D. W. Pritchard, B. Sanderson and R. E. Wilson of MSRC.
SOME RECENT PUBLICATIONS
BOKUNIEWICZ, H. J. 1979. The stability and fate of dredged sediment. In Proceedings of the llth Annual Dredging Seminar. Texas A&M University.
CARTER, H. H., J. R. SCHUBEL, R. E. WILSON and P. M. J. WOODHEAD. 1979. Thermally induced biological effects caused by once-through cooling systems: a rationale for evaluation. Env. Man. 3(4): 353-368.
CARTER. H. H. R. E. WILSON and G. E. CARROLL. 1979. An assessment of the thermal effects on striped bass larvae entrained in the heated discharge of the Indian Point Generating Facilities Units 2 & 3. MSRC Special Report 24.
DUEDALI, II. W. H. B. O’CONNORS, R. E. WILSON aná J. H. PARKER. 1979. The Lower Bay Complex. MESA New York Bight Atlas Monograph 29. N. Y. Sea Grant Inst.
JOHNSON, R. W., I. W. DUEDALL and J. R. PRONI. 1979. Monitoring the temporal dispersion of a sewage sludge plume. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 45(6): 763-768.
McHUGH, J. L. 1979. Review of : Fish Protein concentrate: Panacea for Protein Nutrition. By Ernst R. Pariser, Mitchel B. Wallerstein, Christopher J. Corkery and Norman L. Brown. International Nutrition Policy Series, Vol. 3. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Quarterly Review of Biol – 54(2) : l71.
McHugh, J. L. l979. Status of the fisheries of the Middle Atlantic Bight Region National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, Dept. Commerce, Wash. D. C.
SELIGMAN , J. D., I. W. DUEDALL. 1979. Chemical and physical behavior of stabilized scrubber sludge and fly ash. Env. Sci., and Technol. 13(9).
NEW MESP GRADUATES
Two students completed requirements for the M. S. degree in August:
KAREN CHYTALO, PCBs in dredged sediments and benthic organisms of Long Island Sound (Professor J. R. Schubel).
NORMAN ITZKOWITZ, Thermal shock effects on eggs of the summer flounder (Professor J. R. Schubel).
DONATION FROM THE LIRR
MSRC gratefully acknowledges the generous donation of 17 railroad wheels by the Long Island Railroad. The donation was accomplished through Mr. Burt Kaplan, Director of Purchases and Materials for the LIRR. The wheels are used as anchors for current meter moorings in Great South Bay, Long Island Sound, and in the continental shelf waters off Long Island.
ASSOCIATES CRUISE
On Saturday, 15 September 1979, the MSRC Associates sailed from Captree Basin on the R/V ONRUST to observe some of the Center’s research activities in Great South Bay. The cruise, led by Profs. Henry Bokuniewicz, Bud Brinkhuis and Harold O’Connors, took the Associates into the Bay and out through Fire Island Inlet to the Ocean.
The Associates were shown the current meters that are moored in the Bay to determine the long-term circulation in the Bay and the exchanges of water and salt between the Bay and the Ocean. They located and examined scour waves and scour holes with a high precision fathometer, an instrument that uses sound impulses to measure water depth. Much to everyone’s delight, the sound signal from the fathometer attracted a white Beluga whale that swam alongside the ONRUST.
HUDSON RIVER CRUISE II A SUCCESS
On 1 October 1979, the R/V ONRUST sailed from Port Jefferson for the second annual SUNY-wide educational cruise. The 12-day cruise on the Hudson River was sponsored by the MSRC and the New York Sea Grant Institute.
The ONRUST made several stops along the Hudson to allow students from SUNY schools to come aboard for a ‘real world” look at oceanography. Scientific equipment and techniques were demonstrated by Captain H. C. Stuebe and MSRC personnel Lee Arnold, Cliff Jones, Steve Leffert, Alison Mitchell, Glynis Nau-Ritter, Don Powers, Jay Tanski and Kevin Wyman. Dick Murdoch and Denise Polsinelli of the N. Y. S. Dept. of Environmental Conservation collected water samples, and Barry Allen of the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory ran salinity temperature-depth profiles.
Once the ONRUST reached Albany, the crew was interviewed by a local television station. Later that day an invitational cruise was held for SUNY administrators including : Dr. and Mrs. Murray Block, Dr. George Frangos, Mr. Jim Kalas Dr. Kenneth MacKenzie, Dr. and Mrs. Herbert McArthur, Prof. Mary Pratt, Dr. and Mrs. Paul Silverman, Dr. and Mrs. Alan Vincelette, and Mr. and Mrs. Bill Wise. This event, along with the rest of Hudson River II, was a resounding success, and the crew wishes to thank everyone who participated. We look forward to the Hudson River Cruise II with great anticipation.
NUTRIENT RELEASE RESEARCH MAY INTEREST CLAM FISHERY MANAGERS
Clan fishery managers may take a special interest in the results of Cynthia Dietz’s research Ms. Dietz is investigating the rate of release of nitrogen compounds from the sediments of Great South Bay into the overlying waters, and hopes to identify the locations where these compounds are released at accelerated rates. This research may be particularly relevant to the hard clam industry because the compounds that Ms. Dietz is studying, such as ammonia and nitrate, are nutrients for phytoplankton, which are thought to be the major food source for hard clams.
Ms. Dietz is also attempting to evaluate the impact that clam raking has on the release of nutrients from sediment by using an apparatus similar to a clammer’s rake. If she finds that raking mobilizes a large release of nutrients, managers might be able to control the inputs of nutrients in different parts of the Bay by regulating the activities of clammers in certain areas. Ms. Dietz, who is a masters degree candidate, has been working on this study for several months and plans to continue research for another year.
MSRC ASSOCIATES
We welcome Marie Barrett and William BisSell as new MSRC AS SOC iat-SS .