Fair Winds and Following Seas

After 11 years of dedicated service—five as executive director—at the Consortium, we bid a fond farewell to Susan Lovelace, Ph.D.

During her tenure, she guided our agency with vision, energy, and an unwavering commitment to our mission. Thanks to Susan’s leadership, we have grown stronger, expanded our impact, and built a foundation that will continue to serve communities well into the future.

While we will miss her presence, we celebrate this new chapter for Susan and wish her fulfillment in retirement.

Emily Osborne, Ph.D., joins the Consortium as our new executive director. Learn more about Emily on her biography webpage, and feel free to contact her to introduce yourself and your collaborations with the Consortium.

New Tools Developed to Better Forecast Spring Shrimp Season

A team of S.C. Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) scientists developed an enhanced visual guide and analyzed environmental trends to more reliably identify the reproductive status of white shrimp in the field and to improve understanding of the impact of water temperature and other factors on the timing of reproductive development in the S.C.– GA coastal region.

The visual guide was a result of the Consortium-funded research project, “Refining Assessments of Reproductive Activity in White Shrimp (Penaeus setiferus) to Improve Management Decisions,” led by Principal Investigator Michael Kendrick, Ph.D., an assistant marine scientist at SCDNR’s Marine Resources Research Institute.

As part of the project, the team also investigated trends in the timing of female reproductive development and its relationship with environmental conditions using existing datasets from the Southeast region spanning 1979–2023. Analyses revealed significant trends of earlier spawning onset by 4–5 days per decade, driven in part by warming waters.

The guide and trend analyses, as well as sampling data and microscopic analyses, help SCDNR determine the commercial shrimp fishery opening date each spring. “This project improved our understanding of white shrimp reproduction at the cellular level and combined historical data with modern sampling to explore how environmental conditions influence the valuable crop of spring roe shrimp,” said PI Michael Kendrick.

Visit the SCDNR webpage to learn about shrimp in South Carolina. Contact Michael Kendrick for more information about this project.

A close-up of a white shrimp (Penaeus setiferus). Photo: S.C. Department of Natural Resources.

Special thanks to Hailey Murphy, Coastal Public Information coordinator, for providing this research update.

S.C. Clean Marina Program Provides Nearly $35K Economic Benefit

In 2024, the planning, organization, and administration by the Consortium of two South Carolina Clean Marina training workshops is estimated to have provided an economic benefit of $34,773 based on registration-fee savings, travel costs, and opportunity costs of time.

The Consortium has been the coordination lead for the South Carolina Clean Marina certification program since 2021. The program is a partnership between the Consortium, S.C. Department of Natural Resources, S.C. Department of Environmental Services’ Bureau of Coastal Management, and Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service to protect and improve water quality by reducing pollution from marinas. A Technical Advisory Committee composed of six marine industry partners provides guidance and assistance with training workshops and site inspections. Currently, 20 marinas are certified as Clean Marinas, and most are located in S.C. coastal counties.

To be certified in this voluntary program, marinas pay a modest fee of $250, which helps cover the cost of training, inspection, and certification material. Marinas must meet certain guidelines related to facility design; marina management; emergency planning; fuel control; proper sewage and waste disposal; stormwater control; habitat protection; and boater education. Once certified, a marina is provided a certificate and a flag to let boaters know they are protecting water quality, following environmental regulations, and have a genuine appreciation of the waterways.

For more information on this program, contact April Turner at (843) 953-2073.

St. Johns Yacht Harbor on Johns Island, S.C., is a certified Clean Marina. Photo: Shelly McComb, former Clean Marina intern.

New STEAM Resilience Curricula Developed for Southeast Educators

In 2024, the Consortium was awarded funds from the NOAA National Sea Grant Office to support the two-year proposal “Kids Teaching Flood Resilience: Step Up! Get Ready! Respond!” The funding allowed for the expansion of curricula in five themes: Weather Smart, Place Wise, Storm Surge Smart, Prep-Ready, and Water Safe.

Kids Teaching Flood Resilience (KTFR) is an initiative founded in 2016 by Merrie Koester, Ph.D., a science-literacy and communications specialist, artist, and author. Koester currently is the director of STEAM, Project Draw for Science, and KTFR at the University of South Carolina Center for Science Education.

KTFR uses a Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) approach to prepare students to become “Weather Ready Ambassadors” who can confidently communicate what to do before, during, and after an extreme weather event to make their communities safer and more resilient. The middle school and high school curricula were developed by a multidisciplinary team, including teachers, scientists, engineers, emergency management specialists, higher education scholars, and artists, and then “field-tested” in the classroom by teachers and evaluated externally. Both curricula are aligned with S.C. Department of Education’s South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Science Standards, including Earth’s Systems, Earth and Human Activity, and Engineering, Technology, Science, and Society.

Collaborators on KTFR are the Consortium, NOAA’s Disaster Preparedness Program, and The Citadel’s James B. Near Center for Climate Studies and STEM Center. Contact Merrie Koester for more information about the KTFR initiative.