Sardines, Anchovies, Other Fast-Growing Fish Vulnerable to Dramatic Population Plunges
www.sciencedaily.com, 8/4/2015
A Rutgers marine biologist studying the rise and fall of fish populations worldwide recently made a
counterintuitive discovery: ocean species that grow quickly and reproduce frequently, such as sardines,
anchovies and flounder, are more likely to experience dramatic plunges in population than larger, slower
growing fish such as sharks or tuna... Why is this counterintuitive? Because for life on land, the situation
is in stark contrast..."Rabbits are doing pretty well compared to rhinos," said Malin Pinsky, assistant
professor of ecology and evolution in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. "Mice
thrive while lions, tigers and elephants are endangered."... In his research, published this week in the
journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Pinsky sought an answer to this riddle. In nearly all of the
cases, overfishing was the culprit.
Fast-Growing Fish Risk Dramatic Fall in Population
www.economictimes.com, 8/5/2015
In a counterintuitive discovery, scientists have found that ocean fish species that grow quickly and
reproduce frequently are more likely to experience dramatic plunges in population than larger, slower
growing fish such as sharks or tuna... "Rabbits are doing pretty well compared to rhinos. Mice thrive while
lions, tigers and elephants are endangered," said Malin Pinsky, assistant professor of ecology and
evolution in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University in US...
After studying population changes in 154 species of fish worldwide over 60 years, Pinsky was surprised
to see marine equivalents of rabbits and mice collapsing to low levels - still shy of extinction but serious
enough to disrupt ocean food chains or fishing-based societies... In his research, Pinsky found that in
nearly all of the cases, overfishing was the culprit.
Find Out How Big the Largest Tomato Contest Winner is at N.J. Fair
www.nj.com, 8/7/2015
11-year-old Cody Wright is by far the youngest of the nine competitors at the Salem County Fair's Largest
Tomato Contest, but he has something the other competitors don't have. He has a pedigree... The tomato
contest has a loyal following - with a lot of the same faces competing each year. Cody took the third place
trophy last year and, as he enrolls in the competition this year with his primo red tomato, he sizes up the
other tomatoes... David Lee, Salem County agricultural agent for the Rutgers University
Cooperative Extension, runs the competition and weighs the tomatoes... "Everybody has their own
secret and they don't like to tell but some guys will stay up all night and put night lights on them and
covers on them and grow them on straw and use special fertilizer," Lee said. "Everybody has their own
thing."
What Goes in the Fridge For Safety Reasons and Other Tales
www.barfblog.com, 8/7/2015
Evidence and perception aren't often congruent in the food safety world. There are lots of examples from
the pages of the Internet: Dirty bathrooms are an indicator of sanitation in the kitchen; pathogens won't
transfer in less than five seconds when food hits the floor; and, yogurt is dangerous if consumed after the
best-before date are just a few... K. Aleisha Fetters of Yahoo News connected with Donald Schaffner
and I on the difference between refrigeration for safety and keeping stuff cool for spoilage and quality
reasons... Fruits and vegetables: It depends. If you think about it, fruits and vegetables grow outside at
temps far higher than room temperature. That's why, when they are whole, they are safe on your counter.
However, when you cut them (or in the case of lettuce, just tear their stems from the ground), you actually
rip open the cells of the plant. This releases nutrients, water, and bacteria, and allows them to mingle with
each other, says food microbiologist Donald W. Schaffner, PhD, distinguished professor at
Rutgers University.
NJ Fisheries: Harvesting Jersey Fresh Seafood Daily
www.jerseybites.com, 8/7/2015
New Jersey might be called the Garden State, but its agriculture expands far past the gorgeous green
farmland out to the coast and beyond into another realm: aquaculture. New Jersey fishermen bring in
tons of fresh seafood daily along the Jersey shore for our dining pleasure... Even with all the wonderful
seafood the Jersey coast has to offer, 91% of America's fish is imported from other countries, according
to Gef Flimlin, of the Rutgers Commercial Fisheries and Aquaculture Cooperative Extension. And
do you really know where that fish is coming from or how it is harvested? Sustainability is one of the
words that you hear a lot when discussing aquaculture. When it comes to fishing the NJ coast,
sustainability is on the forefront of every fisherman's mind... Here are a few more resources for info about
NJ's commercial fishing industry and how to incorporate more local seafood into your lifestyle: New
Jersey Aquaculture, Fishermen's Dock Cooperative, NOAA Fisheries, Rutgers: New Jersey
Agricultural Experiment Station.
Gap Firm Branches Out to Sell No-Soil Growing Systems Nationally
www.lancasteronline.com, 8/9/2015
Innovation and new ideas don't always need fertile soil to take root. For Sam Stoltzfus and Frank Fendler,
co-founders of Aero Development Corp., they don't need soil at all. Their company develops,
manufactures and sells aeroponic growing systems for commercial and residential use - light-weight, nosoil vertical garden towers that can grow produce with far less space and water than conventional
growing methods... Fendler says that the system is also very suitable for arid environments, because
aeroponic growing only uses 10 percent of the water that would be needed for soil-based growing...
According to David Specca, acting director of controlled environment agriculture at Rutgers
University's EcoComplex in New Jersey, aeroponic growing isn't new. It's been around for more than
20 years... "In order to make a greenhouse sustainable, you have to be really careful about energy use,"
Specca says.
Opinion: Why Are Municipal Water Utilities Not Up for Mergers and Acquisitions?
www.njspotlight.com, 8/10/2015
A routine headline in New Jersey involves the possible acquisition of a publicly owned water utility (which
I'll call a "municipal utility" here) -- most often a water supply but sometimes a sewer -- by an investorowned utility such as Aqua America, American Water, United Water, Middlesex Water, or their peers. In
other cases, public-private partnerships are formed in which the municipal utility is operated under
contract by an investor-owned utility... Local governments may no longer want to operate their own water
supply or sewerage utility for various reasons. Perhaps costs are rising too fast or the system has
become too difficult for municipal management. That is a decision they make. Why, though, aren't other
publicly owned utilities stepping up as possible partners or purchasers? Why aren't the current local
owners looking for public partners instead of to the private sector?... And this brings me to a final
problem. The municipal utilities that get sold are generally small and are owned by small municipalities
with limited ability to finance changes and improvements. They often have major problems... This article
was written by Daniel J. Van Abs, associate research professor for Water, Society and
Environment at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.
It's High Season For Jersey Tomatoes
www.northjersey.com, 8/10/2015
No matter how you slice them, tomatoes are a big part of summer. They grow on big farms and small
fields along the highways. Their leafy stalks and bulging red fruit dangle over white-picket garden fences
or lean against fire escapes on apartment buildings five stories high. Tomatoes are ripening all over New
Jersey, and don't they smell wonderful?... Rutgers University scientists began to work with the
Camden-based Campbell Soup Co. in the late 1920s to develop a new, open-pollinated tomato with firm
walls and a resistance to cracking during shipping. The so-called Rutgers tomato was beneficial for both
food processing and fresh tomato sales when it was released in 1934. The Rutgers tomato was the
most popular variety in the world in the 1940s and '50s. It comprised more than half the tomatoes
sold worldwide, according to Thomas J. Orton of Rutgers Agricultural Research and Extension
Center... Jack Rabin, associate director of farm programs with Rutgers agricultural extension, said
there are thousands of varieties of tomatoes around the world, but the average consumer is probably only
exposed to about a dozen of them. Another 30 to 100 varieties are grown for gourmet markets and
restaurants.
Cape May County Resident Wins Distinguished Service Award
www.snjtoday.com, 8/10/2015
Jenny Carleo, agricultural and resource management agent for Rutgers NJAES Cooperative
Extension of Cape May County, was recognized with the 2015 Distinguished Service Award by the
National Association of County Agricultural Agents... The award honors members with at least 10 years of
outstanding service to Cooperative Extension, who have been active in professional development, have
an effective Extension program and are endorsed by their state membership and State Extension
Director. Carleo holds a bachelor's degree from Cook College in 1999 and a master's degree from
Rutgers Graduate School-New Brunswick in 2003... Through Annie's Project New Jersey, Carleo's
leadership enabled the project team to offer farm business management programming to over 278
women farmers and business owners in New Jersey, as well as reaching another 470 participants
through nationally broadcast webinars.
4-H Science Ambassador Program Helps Rahway Students Gain Knowledge Through
Research
www.nj.com, 8/11/2015
Children at the Rahway Public Library got a fun introduction to the principles of the scientific method this
summer from a group of volunteer Union County 4-H Science Ambassadors. The projects included
blowing bubbles and a simple "ski slope" demonstration... 4-H is a national youth development program.
In Union County, 4-H is supported by the Freeholder Board, Rutgers University's Cooperative
Extension, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture... To prepare for their Rahway Library presentation in
July, they attended the 4-H Summer Science Program at Rutgers University earlier in the month. They
lived on campus at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences during the one-week
program, learning about scientific investigation as it relates to current issues and challenges.
Volunteers Committed to Giving Back to the Community
www.mycentraljersey.com, 8/11/2015
Forty-two Cushman & Wakefield volunteers, including members of the commercial real estate services
firm's New Jersey Future Leaders Group and other employees from its three Garden State offices,
teamed up this summer with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Plainfield & Middlesex County to help create
affordable housing in partnership with New Jersey low-income families... Additionally, Cushman &
Wakefield is working internally to raise money to support a $100,000 pledge made by the Rutgers
University Habitat for Humanity chapter to fund one of the West Seventh Street homes, which, in
2013, Cushman & Wakefield helped frame... "Cushman & Wakefield's New Jersey Future Leaders and
other team members are committed to giving back to the larger community, and the real estate
connection with Habitat for Humanity makes this worthy organization a natural fit for us," noted Christa
DiLalo Petti, a Cushman & Wakefield senior research analyst based in the firm's East Rutherford
office, who organized the effort. "We also are pleased to assist the next generation of young leaders at
Rutgers achieve their financial goal. Everyone involved appreciates the concept that we have come fullcircle with our support - in both time and funding - for the West Seventh Street project."
Scientists Foresee Losses as Cities Fight Beach Erosion
www.climatecentral.org, 8/12/2015
Beaches are facing off against a changing climate, and they're losing ground. Literally. Waves, currents,
storms and people all move the sand that make beaches, well, beaches. But a combination of rising sea
levels, stronger coastal storms and coastal development means that sandy shorelines are increasingly
disappearing, leaving the millions who live there facing major challenges in a warming world... "Sea level
rise of one foot or a foot and a half per century is basically inundating and drowning the shoreline,"
Norbert Psuty, professor of coastal geomorphology at Rutgers University, said... A common
solution to beach erosion is beach nourishment, a process that pumps sand from dredging ships offshore
to replace the lost sand on the beach. But this process is time consuming and costly and often needs to
be repeated every few years to maintain the beach... "As a short term solution, it's OK if you're doing this
to allow for changes to be made to reduce the infrastructure and to allow the system to return to quasinatural state," Psuty said.
Stand Tall to Beat Anthracnose
www.golfcourseindustry.com, 8/13/2015
New Rutgers research shows taller height of cut with the right fertility and topdressing program gives turf
a stronger chance to reduce summer stress and fight anthracnose... Dr. Bruce Clarke, Director of the
Center for Turfgrass Science at Rutgers University, has been a part of a research group at Rutgers
focused on anthracnose. The results from the 14-year long research project reveal how anthracnose can
be thwarted through better management practices... "The project we are finishing up on started in 2001
when the disease was running rapidly on golf courses. We started as a research project and in 2005
expanded to a universal research project within 11 universities. Including one in Guelph, Canada. Right
now we are focusing on putting together results from previous research about the best program for
superintendents..." said Clarke.
Rutgers Alumni Naturally Bring Walls to Life
www.mycentraljersey.com, 8/14/2015
In October, the Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health (IFNH) at Rutgers University will open, and a
breathtaking highlight will become public knowledge. The award-winning structure under construction at
Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences is home to the largest interior living wall in
the state... Measuring 40 feet tall by 33 feet wide, the living wall is the creation of EcoWalls, a business
founded by Rutgers alumni Michael Coraggio and Ryan Burrows, both of Flemington. Coraggio received
his degree in landscape architecture, while Burrows earned a master's degree in ecology and
evolution... A vertical garden design and installation company that was part of the Rutgers Business
Incubator program housed at the Rutgers EcoComplex in Bordentown, EcoWalls was founded in 2008...
For Coraggio and Burrows, the living wall on the Cook College campus is a "coming home" for the two.
Life partners for 12 years, both credit their alma mater with inspiring and enabling them to do what they
do.
That Tasty New Rutgers Strawberry? The Plants Go On Sale Saturday
www.nj.com, 8/14/2015
The "Rutgers Scarlet," a new strawberry bred to be grown in Jersey soil and eaten soon after picking,
will be available to home gardeners at a South Brunswick open house Saturday... Organizers may
impose a limit per customer if it looks like demand is outpacing supply and the gathering of normally wellbehaved gardeners starts to behave like a crowd outside Wal-Mart on Black Friday... Also on display and available for tasting - will be an even newer variety of strawberry that has been bred to bear fruit
twice in one season. While New Jersey strawberries are typically harvested in late May though early
June, this newest variety has been coaxed through the use of a type of plastic mulch to bear a second
crop of fruit in August... "It tastes pretty good," said Bill Hlubik, professor of Agricultural Science and
an agriculture and resource management agent for Rutgers Cooperative Extension.
Jersey Tomato's Spirit Ripens
www.philly.com, 8/16/2015
The quintessential Jersey tomato is the one you can taste even decades after its flavor first burst on your
tongue. It's that indelible, summer-defining tomato you picked up at a farmstand on the White Horse Pike
in Hammonton in 1960 and have been trying to buy, or grow, ever since... "We constantly hear the
question, 'What happened to the Jersey tomato?' " says horticulturist Tom Orton, noting that
aesthetics, shelf life, and sliceability long ago eclipsed flavor in importance among mass market
vendors... Since 2010, they've been breeding a better version of the famous "Rutgers" variety, which
became synonymous with the Jersey tomato for decades after it was released to the public in 1934...
Despite its fame and popularity, the Rutgers was never patented, and was so frequently crossbred by
various seed companies that it ultimately lost its distinctiveness.
Agritourism Growth Sparks Concerns Over Safety, Liability
www.nytimes.com, 8/16/2015
As more farms open themselves up to visitors for apple picking, hay rides and some extra income,
experts are advising owners to take steps to prevent accidents - be they small or fatal... Farming is one of
the more dangerous occupations in the U.S. mostly due to the machinery and equipment, according the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But a growing interest in local food has led to agritourism
becoming a big business, with the number of U.S. farms reporting income from such activities rising 42
percent between 2007 and 2012, according to the latest Census of Agriculture... The first key is
assessing the risks, said Brian Schilling of Rutgers' Cooperative Extension in New Brunswick, New
Jersey. "If you've grown up on a farm you're sort of blind to a lot of these things," he said, advising
owners to have an extension agent, emergency official or insurance agent walk the farm to identify
hazards... The extension also has a safety checklist that reminds farmers to, among other things,
designate areas that are closed to the public, train employees to property operate farm machinery, secure
and restrict areas that contain chemicals, provide hand-washing or hand-sanitizing stations and have
employees assist with parking.
Cumberland County Rutgers Master Gardener for 2015 Announced
www.nj.com, 8/17/2015
Rutgers Master Gardeners of Cumberland County have honored Sam Pace of Millville with the
Rutgers Master Gardener of the Year Award for 2015 in Cumberland County. Pace will be
recognized for the outstanding work he has done in Cumberland County on Oct. 3 at the Master
Gardeners' Conference in New Brunswick... In 1985, Pace attended the Rutgers Greenhouse Growing
Conference. This led to his building a small greenhouse on his property where he grew a variety of
bedding plants, hanging baskets and flower bags. Today, he is in the process of completing another
greenhouse. Due to an accident that has left him handicapped, Sam now specializes in container
gardening and table gardening, the two types of plantings which make gardening for the handicapped
accessible and rewarding... Pace graduated in the 2014 Rutgers Master Gardeners Program. He has
been an instructor in the Therapeutic Horticulture Program at the Veteran's Home in Vineland and the
Master Gardeners' native plant and vegetable propagation program.
Tracking a Rarely Seen, Endangered 'Ninja' Shark in the Philippines
www.phys.org, 8/17/2015
Rutgers marine scientist Thomas Grothues is well known for his expertise in tracking fish. He was
recruited last year by a colleague from England to track a rarely seen shark species in the Philippines...
The underwater adventure - in which Grothues played a prominent role - was featured recently in the
documentary Ninja Sharks, which aired as part of the Discovery Channel's annual Shark Week...
Grothues, an associate research professor in the School of Environmental and Biological
Sciences, spent a month with Simon Oliver, a scientist from the University of Chester in England, and
others tracking pelagic thresher sharks - which are found in the tropical and subtropical waters of the
Indian and Pacific Oceans... The biggest threat to these sharks, Grothues says, is overfishing. While
some fishermen catch them for sport, other fishermen are after their fins, liver oil, tails and flesh.
New Strawberry is Centerpiece of Garden Field Day
www.gmnews.com, 8/20/2015
Classic rock and the aroma of hamburgers hung in the air, welcoming farmers and gardening enthusiasts
to the EARTH Center for a Garden Field Day gathering... The Rutgers Cooperative Extension of
Middlesex County was the host to the celebration at Davidson's Mill Pond Park in South Brunswick on
Aug. 15. The event featured environmental and agricultural organizations, a lush butterfly garden and, of
course, the new Rutgers Scarlet strawberry... "We've been working on this project for two years...
working with local growers to get the plants for various trials," said Stephen Jakubiec, an incoming
Rutgers senior who worked on the Scarlet strawberry... Researchers utilized more than a dozen
partner farms to grow the different generations of the strawberry, capitalizing on the differing soil types in
order to emphasize different traits in the plants. According to Jakubiec, the goal was three-fold... Vivian
Morris, a master gardener with Rutgers Cooperative Extension, was explaining the how-to's of
building a residential rain garden to passersby. Sitting beside a larger rain garden that she tends at the
EARTH Center, Morris listed the benefits they convey.
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