To boost populations of the West Coast’s only native oyster, scientists and conservationists have been trying some familiar tactics: captive breeding, habitat restoration and close monitoring of numbers. 

But scientists from California Sea Grant are also using a less common tool to inform Olympia oyster restoration: genome sequencing. Scientists hope mapping the Olympia’s genome will help them get a better understanding of the species as a whole, and what steps may need to be taken to ensure a healthy recovery in the most impacted estuaries.

Guest blog by: Tanya Torres, California Sea Grant Marine Debris Research Associate. In this blog, originally published by NOAA's Marine Debris program, she reflects on her recent Extension Fellowship with the NOAA Marine Debris Program and explains how it was a catalyst for her current position with the Sea Grant Program.

Warming, pollution, acidification, habitat loss – the ocean faces some major challenges, and finding solutions to these challenges is going to require input from a wide range of stakeholders – including younger generations. 

But how do ocean decision-makers engage the next generation of leaders? A new report co-authored by California Sea Grant offers tips and tools to do just that.

The idea started as a joke.

Richelle Tanner, who leads the Socio-Ecological Adaptation and Climate Resilience Lab at Chapman University, works with her students to keep up a TikTok account, showcasing their life as researchers. Out of curiosity, Tanner examined the videos’ reach. The results were humbling. 

California Sea Grant is excited to welcome five new Staff Research Associates! Staff Research Associates help carry out California Sea Grant’s mission by engaging in scientific research, outreach and education projects focused on achieving sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, healthy coastal ecosystems and resilient coastal communities. These SRAs engage in field and laboratory research – including ecological surveys, aquaculture experiments and social science assessments – plan hands-on educational activities, run workshops with stakeholders and much more.