BACKGROUND

On December 9, 2010, Governor Christie announced a comprehensive action plan to address the health of Barnegat Bay. As a part of this plan the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Science has been working with the Science Advisory Board, state universities, the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Barnegat Bay Partnership to develop and fund additional research projects that will address filling in the data gaps, help address how we improve water quality and advance habitat restoration on the Bay, and establish baseline conditions of the Bay. Ten projects were selected for funding, which were vetted with both senior NJDEP management staff and Barnegat Bay stakeholders.

The goal of the meeting that was held on September 29, 2011 was to ensure that the research is as comprehensive as possible and to seek synchronicity between projects as a means to identify and fill data gaps, as well as seek maximum efficiencies in performance and outcomes. The immediate objective of the meeting was for the ten research groups to describe scopes, identify goals and data gaps, and share resources, if indicated. NJDEP led off with a brief summation of goals of the research from a scientific-regulatory perspective. Then each project team had ten minutes to present their proposed scope of work with an immediate five minutes of questions to follow. At the end, a discussion of the totality of the approach and suggestions for mutual support and/or recommendations for supplemental work based on a review of each project was achieved.

Return to Division of Science and Research - Barnegat Bay

INTRODUCTIONS

Welcome & Goals
Gary Buchanan, Manager, Office of Science

Water Quality Review
Jill Lipoti, Director, Water Monitoring and Standards

Research Overview
Thomas Belton, Research Coordinator, Office of Science

RESEARCH PROJECTS

Benthic Invertebrate Community Monitoring and
Indicator Development
Gary Taghon, Judy Grassle, Charlotte Fuller, Rosemarie Petrecca
Rutgers University, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences

Barnegat Bay Diatom Water-Quality Calibration
Mihaela Enache, Don Charles; Patrick Center for Environmental Research
Marina Potapova; Center for Systematic Biology and Evolution
Academy of Natural Sciences

Barnegat Bay - Phytoplankton and Harmful Algal Blooms
Ling Ren, Don Charles; Patrick Center for Environmental Research, ANSP

Baseline Characterization of Zooplankton
James Nickels and Ursula Howson, Monmouth University, Urban Coast Institute
Thomas Noji and Jennifer Samson , NOAA, Northeast Fisheries Science Center

Benthic-Pelagic Coupling: Hard Clams as Indicators of Suspended Particulates
Monica Bricelj, John Kraeuter, & Gef Flimlin, Rutgers University

Assessment of Fishes and Crabs Responses to Human Alteration of Barnegat Bay
Kenneth W. Able, Thomas M. Grothues, Rutgers University Marine Field Station and
Paul Jivoff, Rider University

Ecological Evaluation of Sedge Island Marine Conservation Area in Barnegat Bay
Paul Jivoff, Rider University

Assessment of the Distribution and Abundance of Stinging Sea Nettles (Jellyfishes) in Barnegat Bay
Paul Bologna and Jack Gaynor, Montclair University

Multi-Trophic Level Modeling of Barnegat Bay
Olaf Jensen, Heidi Fuchs, and Jim Vasslides, Rutgers University

Wetland Studies of Ecological Function and Adaptation: Denitrification
T. Quirk and D.J. Velinsky, Patrick Center-Academy of Natural Sciences and
A. Smyth and M. Piehler, University of North Carolina