Funded Research Grants Support New York’s Ocean Action Plan

— By Chris Gonzales, Freelance Science Writer, New York Sea Grant

Stony Brook, NY, January 26, 2025 - Over $760,000 in ocean two-year research grants are coming to fruition for investigators from Stony Brook University (SBU), Rutgers University, the Nature Conservancy, the University of Rhode Island, and Beneath the Waves — a conservation NGO based in Virginia, Michigan Technological University.

Two of the three projects have principal investigators at SBU, while the other research team is led by the Nature Conservancy. 

Investigators for the projects — supported via a partnership between New York Sea Grant (NYSG), the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) — have been working to understand how a warming ocean affects a range of aquatic species and industries, from valuable shellfish fisheries to predator finfish and their prey. Meanwhile, offshore wind energy development could be a crucial part of the climate change solution, yet scientists want to better understand how these installations affect migratory birds.

Through New York State’s comprehensive 10-year Ocean Action Plan (OAP), supported by the Environmental Protection Fund’s Ocean and Grant Lakes funding, the state has prioritized dedicated research to inform long-term monitoring programs and to improve science-based understanding of how interrelated components of the ocean ecosystem function off New York’s coast.

These studies represent the second of two rounds of requests for proposals (RFP) from a 10-year, $2.05M cooperative agreement between DEC and NYSG. Goals for the ongoing research outlined below will assist in defining the relationship between human use of the ocean and the natural processes that drive the offshore environment.

The projects are:


Surf clam larvae. Credit: Bassem Allam

Climate change impacts on larval dispersal of continental shelf bivalves
Lead PI: Bassem Allam, Stony Brook University

Researchers are investigating the impacts of ocean warming and acidification on surf clam and sea scallop larvae in the New York Bight. Both Atlantic surf clams (Spisula solidissima) and sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus) support multi-million dollar fisheries and have shown sensitivity to climate change.

“We’re very interested in seeing how larvae of these important fishery species will respond to climate change,” said Bassem Allam, the project leader and a marine biologist at SBU’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS). “We hope to generate data that can both help fisheries management while also addressing some broad knowledge gaps about how changing climate conditions affect larvae physiology, behavior and dispersal patterns.”


In a NYSG-funded project, a SBU-led team will carry out new research trips in order to evaluate how trends in climate may drive shifts in the distribution of predators and their prey. Project PIs Michael Frisk, Oliver Shipley (Stony Brook University), and Jill Olin (Michigan Tech) were all part of a recent Stony Brook research cruise to sample sharks in the Mid Atlantic Bight. A short distance off the boat’s port side bow is a mature white shark (Carcharodon carcharias). Credit: Tom Henshilwood

Defining foraging hotspots of finfish and sharks in the New York Bight: linking trophic dynamics with spatiotemporal trends in species distributions
Lead PI: Michael Frisk, Stony Brook University

Marine biologists are thinking in a big-picture way about the ocean food web. In this project, they are evaluating how trends in climate and fish population numbers are changing the availability of prey. This work should lead to a more detailed understanding and management of the New York Bight, a region presently undergoing change that is impacting the distribution of prey and top predators.

“We are excited to learn more about the distributions of predator-prey interactions, and how this relates to changes in climate,” said Michael Frisk, the project leader and a population biologist at SBU’s SoMAS. “This work will provide an important foundation for predicting future states of New York Bight food-webs, and has large implications for ecosystem health and fisheries.”


A group of common and roseate terns in flight, hovering over their nesting sites. Credit: Peter Paton

Scientists are studying movements and foraging patterns of seabirds in the New York Bight during their breeding and migratory periods. Little is known about the movements of seabirds in offshore areas of the New York Bight. However, such information could be valuable in evaluating potential effects of offshore wind energy development.

“Great Gull Island is a globally-important breeding site for terns and gulls,” said Juliet Lamb, the project leader and a marine scientist at the Nature Conservancy. “It is also located within 50 nautical miles of at least three current or proposed offshore wind energy developments, which can impact seabirds by increasing collision risk or displacing birds from marine habitats.”

“Our aim is to understand how the seabirds of Great Gull Island use marine habitats throughout the year and how their movements might be affected by offshore wind energy buildout. We are particularly interested in identifying foraging hotspots and migratory routes, determining what environmental conditions are driving movement patterns, and examining how habitat use varies among individuals and throughout the year.”


(At left) Juliet Lamb bands a yellow-legged gull captured on Frioul Island, France for a tracking project looking at habitat use and disease ecology of urban gulls in the Mediterranean Sea. Credit: Yvan Satgé; (At right) A pair of banded roseate terns. Credit: Peter Paton


A researcher checks a plot of common tern nests. As a side note, if avian flu is present, his protective suit will reduce the potential of spreading it either to himself or among the birds. Credit: Peter Paton


A roseate tern brings a prey item (a sand lance) back to its nest. The tiny bands on its feet are unique markers that the researchers use to identify birds. With these aids, they monitor individual birds from year to year and note their colony attendance and breeding success. Credit: Peter Paton

More Info: New York State Ocean Action Plan

New York’s long-understudied inshore and offshore ocean waters contain a wealth of information on the health, biodiversity, and resiliency of marine organisms and their ocean habitat. To achieve New York’s goals in ensuring the ecological integrity of the ocean ecosystem and the goods and services it provides, the state must first explore the questions pertaining to the ecosystem and collect data needed to inform future decisions on how we use the ocean environment.

Maritime commerce, commercial and recreational fishing, tourism, and other recreational business are key components to New York’s economy that rely heavily on the health of the state’s ocean and estuarine ecosystems. Understanding the current baseline conditions of the ocean ecosystem and how these are changing is a key factor as new and traditional uses of the offshore area expand with new technologies and new resources. It is imperative to measure environmental changes occurring with ocean ecosystems to understand the scope of climate change in the New York Bight, as well as the new uses designed to reduce those impacts.

More Info: NYSDEC and Partnership with NYSG

As a partner with DEC in the OAP Research Program, NYSG’s mission is to help New York’s diverse coastal communities respond to rapid economic and environmental changes. Since 1971, NYSG has been funding research on issues of critical importance to New York’s coastal communities and stakeholders. Sea Grant is partnering with DEC in administering the research awards.


More Info: New York Sea Grant

Established in 1966, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Sea Grant College Program promotes the informed stewardship of coastal resources in 34 joint federal/state university-based programs in every U.S. coastal state (marine and Great Lakes) and Puerto Rico. The Sea Grant model has also inspired similar projects in the Pacific region, Korea and Indonesia.

Since 1971, New York Sea Grant (NYSG) has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

NYSG historically leverages on average a 3 to 6-fold return on each invested federal dollar, annually. We benefit from this, as these resources are invested in Sea Grant staff and their work in communities right here in New York.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

New York Sea Grant, one of the largest of the state Sea Grant programs, is a cooperative program of the State University of New York (SUNY) and Cornell University. The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Oswego, the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark, and in Watertown. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, in Queens, at Brooklyn College, with Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC, in Bronx, with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County in Kingston, and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County in Elmsford.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org, follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and YouTube). NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which it publishes 2-3 times a year.