Extension News: April 2008 Archives

Project will locate, collect, and recycle marine debris

When it's full, the dumpster will be hauled to a waste-to-energy plant, where the debris will be burned to make electricity.

The ceremony launched The NH Marine Debris-to-Energy Project. Funded by a grant from the NOAA Marine Debris Program, the project aims to:

• Better characterize the sources and distribution patterns of ocean-based debris, especially "derelict fishing gear" (DFG)--nets, lines, pots, and other fishing equipment that has been lost, abandoned, or discarded in the marine environment. DFG is an extremely dangerous form of marine debris.
• Develop protocols for undertaking a unique underwater cleanup program to identify and remove DFG and other debris.
• Continue to investigate the sources of land-based debris.
• Mitigate the problem through education and outreach.

On hand at the Seabrook kick-off ceremony were the project's primary investigators: Ken La Valley, commercial fisheries specialist with UNH Cooperative Extension Sea Grant, and Jenna Jambeck, a UNH research assistant professor of civil/environmental engineering, as well as representatives from partner organizations: Jen Kennedy, director of the nonprofit Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation, and Alan Davis, district manager for Waste Management.

In his remarks, La Valley noted that getting the help of local fishermen 'wasn't a tough sell."

New Hampshire Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter congratulated the project coordinators and Waste Management for joining forces, noting it showed a maturation of the environmental movement by demonstrating, "we can find the answers by working together."

Main project activities

• Researchers will make an initial assessment of the volume of underwater marine debris using sonar for the first time for this purpose in New Hampshire.
• Commercial and recreational fishermen will become actively involved in removing DFG at sea and collecting it in the Waste Management dumpster at the Yankee Fisherman's Co-op.
• Fishermen will have access to bins where they can discard their fishing line for recycling.
• Anyone collecting marine debris will be able to report it online via an easy Web interface.
• Cleanups along the New Hampshire coastline will expand, involving more volunteers and creating more aesthetically-pleasing, healthier and safer beaches.
• Members of the public, schools, and scientific researchers will have access to interactive marine-debris data and GIS maps.
• Teachers and their students across the world will have access to marine-debris data to use in their lessons, and local schools will be able to work directly with project investigators and partners in viewing data, participating in cleanups and contributing to the database.
• Project staff and others around the world can use the data and protocols developed in this project to target further pollution-prevention and outreach efforts.
• The quantities of debris in the ocean and on the shore, potentially harmful to wildlife, people, vessels, and the economy, will diminish.

Project timeline

Spring 2008 Develop and launch Web-based system (developed at UNH Cooperative Extension) for reporting of marine debris, install the dumpster at the cooperative, and install monofilament recycling bins at several fishing locations along the coast from Durham to Seabrook.

Summer 2008 Conduct underwater mapping, start collecting data from fishermen and cleanup volunteers through the project's Web site.

Fall 2008 Publish a best-management-practices manual, hold a public workshop about the project, and offer training for best practices for dealing with marine debris.

Throughout the project, organizers plan to conduct shoreline cleanups and conduct informational sessions for fishermen, the public, and schools in the area.

More information

NH Marine Debris to Energy Project
Get involved!




Posted April 24, 2008 | TrackBack

A new report from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (NHDHHS) notes that cases of Lyme Disease in the Granite State rose 43 percent last year, from 619 in 2006 to 892 in 2007.

The highest rates of disease occurred in Rockingham, Strafford, Hillsborough, Merrimack, and Carroll Counties.

The culprit: blacklegged tick
"The state monitoring program found that half the adult blacklegged ticks collected in Strafford, Rockingham and Hillsborough Counties, and 20 percent to 50 percent in Merrimack County carried the Lyme disease bacterium," says UNH Cooperative Extension entomologist Alan Eaton.

Eaton adds, "New Hampshire is home to 15 species of ticks, but the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis, also called the "deer tick") is the one that transmits Lyme disease."

"The blacklegged tick itself becomes infected with Lyme disease-causing bacteria by feeding on an infected 'reservoir host,' an organism that carries high levels of the bacteria in its bloodstream," says Eaton. "In New Hampshire, the primary reservoir host for Lyme disease is the white-footed mouse."

Protect yourself
"Although the risk of acquiring Lyme disease is greatest in June and July, adult blacklegged ticks are becoming active now in southeastern New Hampshire," says Eaton. To protect yourself and your family, Eaton and public health officials recommend:

• When possible, avoid walking through tall grass and brushy areas, prime habitats for ticks.
• If you do walk into tick territory, wear protective clothing. Long pants and long sleeves help keep ticks off skin. Tuck pant legs into socks or boots and shirts into pants to keep ticks on the outside of clothing. Tape the area where pants and socks meet so ticks can't crawl under clothing.
• Light-colored clothing will make it easier to spot ticks.
• Use insect repellent containing 20 percent to 50 percent DEET on clothes and exposed skin.
• Don't use DEET on babies younger than two months old, and use a preparation containing less than 30 percent DEET on young children.
• Pressurized spray products containing the insecticide permethrin sprayed on clothing will kill ticks that attach themselves to the clothing. Never apply permethrin-containing products directly to the skin. Spray them on clothing before you put it on. Always follow the label when applying a pesticide.
• After being outdoors, wash and dry clothing at a high temperature to kill any ticks that may remain on clothing.
• Perform tick checks after being outdoors. Removing ticks early can reduce the risk of infection. Inspect all body surfaces carefully (including scalp, hair, and between the toes) and remove attached ticks with tweezers. Grasp the tick firmly and as close to the skin as possible. With a steady motion, pull the tick's body away from the skin. Avoid crushing the tick's body.
• Don't try to remove a tick using Vaseline, a hot match, nail polish, or other products.
  
• After removing the tick, clean the bitten area with an antiseptic.
• Monitor the site of any tick bite for signs of infection, and monitor your overall health closely after a tick bite, staying alert for signs and symptoms.
• To reduce ticks around the home where people spend time, keep grass short, remove leaf litter, and create a wood-chip or gravel barrier where the yard meets the woods,

To have a tick identified
Residents who want to have a tick identified have two options:

UNH Arthropod ID Laboratory
Fee is $5. Follow directions on submission form for preparing specimen. Mail or walk-ins.

Department of Agriculture, Markets & Food No fee. Residents can also take advantage of this service by dropping off specimens at the Health and Human Services Building at 29 Hazen Drive in Concord. Please read submission form for proper preparation of specimen.

Note: Laboratories identify tick species, but don't test for presence of disease-causing organisms.

More information

NHDHHS general Lyme disease information
Lyme disease fact sheet
New Hampshire Tick-Borne Disease Bulletin: 2007 Update
Biology and Control of Ticks in New Hampshire

Photo credit: Alan Eaton, UNH Cooperative Extension

UNH Cooperative Extension's 2008 NH Outside Calendar has taken first place in the "one-to-three-color popular publications" category of the Association for Communication Excellence (ACE) 2008 Critique and Awards program.

ACE is an international association of communicators and information technologists who work in universities, government agencies and research organizations in the public sector, as well as companies and firms in the private sector.

The judges awarded 97 of 100 points to the NH Outside calendar, calling it, "An excellent example of making the most of a one-to-three-color publication. The essays are especially good....A very attractive publication with an effective use of illustrations throughout."

Subtitled connecting you with the wisdom and wonder of the natural world, the calendar itself reflects the purpose of the 4-year old collaborative writing project. We started the project in 2004 to give our natural resources volunteers (master gardeners, wildlife coverts, community tree stewards, lakes lay monitors, and marine docents) who love to write another way to share the humor, insight, and wonder they've found in the world outside their doorways.

We recruit people with a passion for the natural world who also love to write and offer training, professional editing and ongoing support in exchange for their written work. Most of their essays reflect on a private experience or encounter with the natural world. Their only aim: to connect readers to nature in some concrete, meaningful way.

Every week we distribute a new essay to print media statewide and publish it to our NH Outside Web page. The award-winning calendar contains excerpts from published NH Outside columns, illustrated with original artwork by volunteer artists and spiced with daily tips and tidbits to help increase awareness of the outside world.

The Extension design and production team of Peg Boyles, Pam Doherty (designer par excellence), Alice Mullen, and Holly Young has already begun planning the 2009 edition. Stay tuned!

To learn more about becoming a NH Outside writer, or to receive our weekly essays for use in your publication or newsletter, contact Peg Boyles at 225-5505 or peg.boyles@unh.edu.