Update on the Press Conference

The report from the press conference in Southampton is in from our crack correspondent Champ Kind…er….John Carroll. Here are some highlights:

• Amongst others, in attendance were Congressman Tim Bishop (D, NY-1), State Assemblyman Fred Thiele and University President “Don’t Call Me” Shirley Strum-Kinney.



• New conference was covered by local television outlets; News 12 Long Island, and Channel 55 out of Riverhead.



• Announced publicly the $3.7 million dollar Institute for Ocean Conservation.



• The institutes first project will be working on “forage fish fisheries” including anchovies, silversides and bunker amongst others.



• State Assemblyman Fred Thiele announced nearly $7 million in state funding to build a state of the art new marine station at Stony Brook – Southampton.



• Dr. Chris Gobler of SoMAS was recognized by Congressman Tim Bishop for his outstanding research on local issues.



• A tour of Shinnecock Bay was given to the dignitaries in attendance by SoMAS graduate students.

John also noted that the press conference was well attended and that there was delicious finger food available for lunch (which made me kick myself for not attending). By his description its possible that more Southampton T-shirts were worn today than in the past 3 months combined...

Thanks John for the coverage…

Breaking News: Institute for Ocean Conservation to be formed in Stony Brook

BREAKING NEWS

Metro Environmental Blog has learned that within the hour, at approximately 11:15 am the Pew Charitable Trust in conjunction with Stony Brook University will form the Institute for Ocean Conservation at Stony Brook University. Details are still forthcoming and will be announced at the Marine Station at Southampton later today. What is known is that a large number of staff members from the Pew Ocean Institute at the University of Miami in Florida are moving north to join the faculty and staff at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at Stony Brook University. The Pew Charitable Trust will contribute $3.7 million to help start the institute.

I am cautiously optimistic about this new institute. The Pew Charitable Trust has a history of funding non-biased, non-partisan research projects covering a variety of social and scientific issues. Hopefully the Institute for Ocean Conservation will continue this proud tradition and produce research results and conduct scientific outreach which helps shape US environmental policy in a positive way.

This move has potential huge positive implications for the New York Metro Region. This institute may direct money to studying local water bodies, and the results may help decision makers to make good decisions. This new institute may result in increased cooperation between local regulatory agencies and not-for-profit research groups. And lastly this institute will likely increase funds available to regional universities to conduct groundbreaking research.

Metro Environmental Blog has correspondent John Carroll on the scene and updates will be posted as soon as they are made available.