UD's Coast Day makes a big splash with thousands

3:30 p.m., Oct. 8, 2003--Thousands poured onto the Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes on Sunday, Oct. 5, to celebrate the ocean’s bounty and learn about the latest marine research at UD’s 27th annual Coast Day.

Sponsored by the College of Marine Studies and the Sea Grant College Program, Coast Day offered visitors more than 100 different activities, including lectures, exhibits, research demonstrations, ship tours, a seafood chowder challenge, crab cake cook-off, nautical crafts show and more.

A special ceremony highlighting the importance of Delaware’s estuaries was hosted by Carolyn Thoroughgood, dean of the College of Marine Studies and Sea Grant director. It involved Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner; Eldon Hout, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management; John Hughes, secretary of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control; and John Berry, executive director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Minner spoke of the rich traditions the Delaware Bay and Delaware’s Inland Bays have provided the people of Delaware and the importance of the state’s ocean and coastal resources to her own life. Hout referred to Coast Day as the “Super Bowl” of public education events and highlighted the strong federal–state partnerships that exist in Delaware to protect estuaries, while Hughes shared his deep commitment to environmental resource stewardship and some of the state’s ongoing efforts to improve and protect the bays and coast.

Berry announced National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grants of $10,000–$25,000 for Delaware Estuary watershed stewardship activities to Ducks Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, University of Delaware, Brandywine Conservancy, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Integrated Vegetation Management Partners, Delaware Riverkeeper Network and the Conservation Fund. He concluded by announcing a $100,000 grant to the University of Delaware College of Marine Studies for continued research to develop artificial bait to relieve fishing pressure on the horseshoe crab, which is used as bait in eel and conch fisheries.

In Cannon Laboratory, a 20-foot-long display greeted visitors to a special exhibit on the Delaware River’s role in global commerce, highlighting the chief products handled by the nation’s fifth largest port complex and the workers who keep that cargo constantly moving from ships to land-based carriers to local stores.

Elsewhere on campus, visitors could feast on oyster sandwiches and other culinary delights, stroll through Lucy the 56-foot inflatable whale, tour Delaware’s tall ship, find out what to do to storm-proof their homes, gear up for UD’s upcoming Extreme 2003 deep-sea expedition and get up close and personal with critters ranging from 3-foot-long nuclear worms to a species of fish, aptly named the “lookdown,” that appears to look down its nose as it swims.

The event’s organizers—the Sea Grant Marine Advisory Service and Marine Public Education Office—already are making plans for the next Coast Day, slated for Sunday, Oct. 3, 2004.

Article by Tracey Bryant
Photos by Bob Bowden

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