New Haven Harbor Watershed

Environmental Monitoring Program

Meteorological Data Monitoring

Proposal

- Project need

On July 30, 2004, a letter was sent from the Long Island Sound Study (LISS) Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) to the members of the Long Island Sound Policy Committee. In that letter, the CAC listed the five priority issues where more focused resources and support needs to be placed by the commissioners and regional administrators. Three of the five issues mentioned in the letter are issues that the Sound School and its collaborating partners could be active in the process of gathering the data from the New Haven Harbor watershed and central Long Island Sound. This would help to establish and maintain an accurate and comprehensive database of the living and non-living factors that are present in this region of the Long Island Sound.

Also, in conversations with many researchers and policy makers that are directly involved with monitoring the water quality of the Long Island Sound and implementing the mandates of the Long Island Sound Study and the CCMP, the need to develop a solid database of information about the New Haven Harbor and central Long Island Sound has been reiterated. There is a need to begin collecting data and then to make the research a continuing and ongoing process. Continuous monitoring of water quality, ongoing inventories of the organisms that inhabit the area or migrate in and out of it, monitoring of pollutants in the water and sediments and determining the changes to the ecology of the area are the most basic tasks that need to be accomplished. The information is needed to enable all the local communities and regional planning agencies to develop watershed management plans and to accurately assess the effectiveness of the plans.

- Objectives

The proposed project will support practically all of the Sound Future Fund Goals stated in the third paragraph of the RFP and many of the Priority Problems listed in the CCMP. The specific objectives for this project will be the following:

• The students will be trained over a period of 4 years in the use of the scientific method and appropriate research techniques during many field investigations each year to determine the quality of the water and the health of the ecosystem in the New Haven Harbor watershed to a competency level of 80%.
• The students will develop the skills needed to design, fabricate, test, operate and maintain the various kinds of equipment (Remote Operating Vehicles, seines, dredges, corers, trawls, traps, fishing gear, water testing meters, various sampling and measuring devices) that will be used to carry out the nine types of research projects outlined in this proposal to a competency level of 80%.
• The students will develop and apply their communication skills to present the results of their investigations, data analysis and conclusions (if any) to the scientific community, to all of the organizations mentioned in the final products(s) section of this proposal and the general public using the instruments and methods also described in that section to a competency level of 80%.

 

- Overall Conext

As previously mentioned, there is a lack of data and continuous monitoring of the living marine resources, water quality, substrate quality and ecological relationships that are present in the estuaries connected to the Long Island Sound. This project is being initiated to fill in that gap in the information coming from the New Haven Harbor watershed.

This project will provide the background information needed by the municipal leaders to educate them and support their efforts in the development of new watershed management plans for the New Haven Harbor watershed, species conservation, critical habitat monitoring, detection and management of invasive species and habitat restoration.

This project will be an extension and expansion of projects that were being carried out by all of the advisors in the early 1990s and early 2000s and then terminated due to cuts in the federal and state funds. The people who are serving as the advisors for each of the components are members of the Sound School’s Advisory/Consulting Committee. The members of this committee represent the interests of marine scientists, fishermen, government agencies and various marine trades. They advise the staff as to what should be included the curriculum, the applications/investigations/field studies that should be taught and what equipment the students should be trained to use. All of the investigations and the need of carrying them out have been provided to us by these advisors.

The Sound School is a regional (18 cooperating districts) vocational aquaculture school that provides educational experiences for the students that will assist them in achieving mastery of the performance standards and competencies promulgated by the National Future Farmers of America organization, the National Occupational Career Training Institute (NOCTI) and the state of Connecticut Vocational and Technical Education Department. These require that the students understand the concepts, strategies and tools needed to contribute personal growth, community leadership, democratic principles and social responsibility. All students ate required to complete 800 hours of Supervised Occupational Experiences (SOE’s) during the four years they are enrolled at the school.

This entails working at a business, agency or university, outside of school hours, where they can participate in planned career related work experiences. In the senior year, the students are also expected to participate in Cooperative Placements for extended periods of time to further improve their knowledge and skills in a specific career field. The participation of the 310 students in most aspects of this project will provide them with many opportunities to get involved in and interact with the community to practice and employ their newly learned skills.

- Methodology

The Sound School is located right on the waterfront of the New Haven Harbor in the City Point section of the City of New Haven. The Aquaculture Science and Marine Technology courses that are offered at the Sound School and the availability of various vessels ranging in size from 16 feet to 50 feet make New Haven Harbor the outdoor classroom for the school. The new George Foote Aquaculture center Building also contains many science labs that were designed and built in accordance with the industry standards to permit both instruction and research to be carried out in all of them.

The research work that needs to be done can be accomplished by Sound School staff and students serving as primary investigators and research assistants working in collaboration with scientists from other government agencies (EPA, CT DEP, NOAA Marine Fisheries, CT Agriculture Department- Aquaculture Lab) and nearby academic institutions (University of New haven, Yale University, University of Connecticut, Sacred Heart University) using our labs and vessels and the facilities of the partners.