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Funded Projects

North Carolina Sea Grant’s core funding cycles provide two years of funding for research that covers a breadth of coastal issues and needs related to focus areas outlined in our Strategic Plan. Recent examples have included shellfish and finfish aquaculture, water quality, storm surge, environmental education, coastal communities and public health.

2022-2024 Core Funding Cycle

Fishery Management Implications of Environmentally Determined Sex and Biased Juvenile Sex Ratios in Southern Flounder
Russell Borski of North Carolina State University, with Jeff Buckel, Harry Daniels, John Godwin and James Rice, all of NC State.

Interactions between Waves, Flooding and Beach Morphology During Storm Events
Joel C. Dietrich of NC State, with Rick Luettich of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Margery Overton of NC State.

Effects of Oyster Grow-Out Cages on the Condition and Ecosystem-Services of Seagrass Communities
Joel Fodrie of UNC-Chapel Hill, with James Morley and Abigail Poray, also of UNC-Chapel Hill, and Katherine McGlade of Hatteras.

“Next Generation” Coastal Communities: Leveraging Social Capital to Build Local Leadership Capacity
David Griffith of East Carolina University, with Barbara Garrity-Blake of Duke and Susan West from Buxton. Sara Mirabilio of Sea Grant also will participate.

Understanding the Public Health Risk Associated with Under Dock Oyster Culture and Aquaculture Activities in the Estuarine Waters of North Carolina
Rachel Noble of UNC-Chapel Hill, with Brett Froelich, also of UNC-Chapel Hill.

Hypoxia and Algal Bloom Forecasting for the Neuse River Estuary
Daniel Obenhour of NC State, with Hans Paerl of UNC-Chapel Hill.

Going with the Flow: New Approaches for Determining Drivers of Toxic Cyanobacteria Blooms in the Cape Fear River, NC
Hans Paerl of UNC-Chapel Hill, with Nathan Hall of UNC-Chapel Hill, Scott Ensign of Morehead City and Astrid Schnetzer of NC State.

Building Climate Literacy and Coastal Hazard Resilience through Intergenerational Transfer
Markus Nils Peterson, NC State, with Howard Bondell, Sarah Carrier, Kathryn Stevenson and Renee Strnad, all of NC State.

Overcoming Technical Barriers to Cost-Effective Production of Marine Finfish Fingerlings and Expanded Growout Production: Optimizing Nursery Stocking, Feeding and Harvesting Strategies
Wade Watanabe of University of North Carolina Wilmington, with Md. Shah Alam and Patrick Carroll, also of UNCW.

Interactions between Waves, Flooding and Beach Morphology during Storm Events

Joel Dietrich at NC State University

Improving environmental decision making in coastal communities through giving children a voice: Building science literacy, civic engagement, and coastal resilience through K-12 citizen science

Kathryn Stevenson at NC State University

The missing link? The role dissolved organic nitrogen plays in controlling phytoplankton and eutrophication dynamics in the Neuse River Estuary, NC

Hans Paerl at UNC Chapel Hill

Evaluating Cultch Oyster Reefs as Essential Fish Habitat David Eggleston at NC State

Improving saltmarsh conservation by examining transgression across a range of upland gradients and saltmarsh widths at decadal to millennial time scales. Antonio Rodriguez at UNC Chapel Hill

The Value of Fishing, Farming and Eating: new approaches to understanding coastal community well-being in a changing world. Grant Murray at Duke University

Quantifying the geomorphic, ecological, and socioeconomic impacts of shoreline management strategies: a multi-disciplinary approach Eulie Devon

Building Resilience by Innovating through Diverse Group Engagement (BRIDGE): Long-term recovery from Hurricane Matthew Bethany Cutts at NC State

Quantifying spawning populations of river herring using environmental DNA Erin Field at Eastern Carolina University

Habitat value of oyster leases within estuarine landscapes for finfish and crustaceans Joel Fodrie at UNC Chapel Hill.

Characterizing and manipulating oyster microbiology for aquaculture applications Rachel Noble at UNC Chapel Hill

Test Project for Post Completion Report Mary Beth Barrow at North Carolina Sea Grant College Program

Understanding the effects of a newly-discovered trematode parasite on wild and cultured bay scallop production Julia Buck at UNC Wilmington

Assessing long-term water temperature patterns in North Carolina estuaries: a key for gauging and predicting ecosystem heath in an era of global change. Joel Fodrie at UNC Chapel Hill

Trickle-down effects of increasing coastal sediment loads on tidal-creek levee morphology, salt-marsh platform accretion, and resilience to sea-level rise since AD 1900

Antonio Rodriguez at UNC Chapel Hill

Identifying the drivers of chronic coastal flooding: a community-centric approach

Katherine Anarde at NC State

JustWater: Policy leadership and environmental justice during disaster recovery

Bethany Cutts at NC State

Assessing spatial and temporal controls on sediment transport in Currituck Sound David Lagomasino at East Carolina University

Developing a Model for Supporting Coastal Resilience through Youth-led Coproduction Kathryn Stevenson at NC State

Potential impacts of marine dredging on key commercial and recreational fish and shellfish: Informing decisions regarding mitigation and seasonal closures of dredging to maintain North Carolina’s State Ports David Eggleston at NC State

Assessing Influence of Sea-Level Rise Induced Salt Intrusion and Associated Circulation Change on Southern Flounder Recruitment Processes in Albemarle-Pamlico Sound Liu Qianqian at UNC Wilmington

Multi-trophic waste management for finfish mariculture in land-based recirculating aquaculture systems using the salt-tolerant halophyte Salicornia virginica Shah Alam MD UNC Wilmington

For project reports and information, contact John Fear at 919-515-9104 or jmfear@ncsu.edu.