Project Partners:
South Jersey Port Corporation
Seaboard Fisheries Institute
Rutgers University Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory
Rutgers University Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences
Environmental Research and Consulting, Inc.
Academy of Natural Sciences
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District

Project Status:
The Seaboard Fisheries Institute in collaboration with leading researchers has initiated an investigation to examine the effects of flow dynamics, salinity, and water quality on the eastern oyster, the Atlantic sturgeon, and the shortnose sturgeon in the Delaware Estuary. The study will focus on the oligohaline zone, the area where fresh and salt water interface. The oligohaline zone supports essential habitats for juvenile anadromous fish and provides critical disease refuge for oysters. Though very different in their functional significance to the estuary, oysters and sturgeon both represent important ecological indicators of the health of the estuary. Additionally both groups of animals are particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic and climatic changes effecting estuarine flow dynamics.

The DE SOS research effort will utilize a sophisticated hydrodynamic model to investigate interactions of flow dynamics, salinity, and water quality on the eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica), the Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus), and the shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) in the Delaware Estuary.

Read more information about the Delaware Estuary study.

Read additonal information about The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District project.