Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Cape May County
Cape May County
RCE Agent Jenny Carleo Wins National Award for Creative Excellence
Jenny Carleo (CC’99, GSNB ’03), Rutgers Cooperative Extension (RCE) agricultural and resource management agent for Cape May County, received a 2016 Joint Council of Extension Professionals (JCEP) Award for Creative Excellence at the National Association of County Agricultural Agents (NACAA) conference in Little Rock, Arkansas. JCEP, a partnership of Extension Professional Associations, presents its award […]
Oyster Farms, Shorebird Vie for Space on NJ Bay Beaches
Oyster farming is the kind of business an environmentalist should love: it doesn’t use harmful chemicals or deplete natural resources, and the locally grown shellfish actually help clean the water… The 17 farms in the area produced 1.6 million oyster…
OYSTERS & KNOTS
“Here are some bags ready to be split,” says Brian Harman on a warm, sunny day last October before lifting a 40-pound bag and smiling at the tinkling sound made by the jostling of some 250 oysters. He wears black rubber boots that rise just a few inches short of the bottom of the back pockets on his blue jeans. He’s got on a T-shirt that says “Eat Oysters,” sunglasses to cut the glare, and blue work gloves… The industry began to recover, thanks to an MSX-resistant oyster developed by the Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory at Rutgers, but in 1990 another oyster scourge, Dermo, hit oysters hard yet again. The Rutgers lab again rose to the challenge, selecting for Dermo resistance and maintaining its successful breeding program. The lab would also lend a helping hand in the launch of the Atlantic Capes Fisheries oyster-rack system by the end of the ’90s… “We can all take the same species of oyster from the same hatchery source and end up with a different-tasting oyster,” confirms Lisa Calvo, who farms oysters with her husband in the lower Delaware Bay. (Branded as “Sweet Amalias,” after their daughter, the couple sells them directly to a handful of Philadelphia restaurants.) Calvo is also the aquaculture extension program coordinator at the Haskin Shellfish Research Lab and knows well the important role that oysters play in a healthy bay ecosystem.
Rutgers Cooperative Extension Held Wellness Night for ‘Grandparents Raising Grandchildren’
Rutgers Cooperative Extension’s Family and Community Health Sciences (FCHS) Department held its annual Wellness Night for the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Support Group on March 22, 2016. The special evening, of pampering services for the grandparents, took place at the Cape May County Technical School District… Marilou Rochford, FCHS Educator, said, “This partnership between FCHS and the Cosmetology Program of the Cape May County Technical School District not only provides services for the grandparents but also provides an opportunity for the Cosmetology students to gain practical experience while studying their chosen field.” Rochford added, “This event has traditionally been a fun night for everyone, including the Cosmetology Program students.”
Partaking in the Rebirth of the East Coast Oyster
French poet Leon-Paul Fargue wrote “Eating oysters is like kissing the sea on the lips.”… Barnegat Bay is also rebounding due to environmental stewardship programs to build oyster reefs under the watchful eye of Gef Flimlin of Rutgers University and local volunteers…How did the endangered American oyster, also called the Eastern oyster, experience this dramatic comeback? I recently visited the New Jersey Aquaculture Innovation Center at Rutgers, located at the end of a gravely road on the banks of the Cape May Canal. On the aquatic factory tour directed by David Jones, who coincidently doesn’t eat oysters, I observed oyster seeds in various stages of maturation as they were fed algae from the adjacent waters. “We sell an average of 10 to 12 million oyster seeds annually to the oyster farming industry in Delaware Bay and elsewhere,” said Jones. Nearby, local oyster farmers harvested Cape May Salts and other brands under the watchful eye of researchers.
Cape May County Native Receives Rutgers University Faculty Award
West Cape May resident Jeannette Rea Keywood was recently awarded the 2015 Rutgers Cooperative Extension (RCE) Award for Excellence — Extension Faculty by Dr. Larry Katz, Director of RCE and Senior Associate Director of the New Jersey Agricultural Exp…
4-H Members Represent New Jersey at National Healthy Living Summit
Four 4-H members represented New Jersey at the National Youth Summit on Healthy Living held Feb. 12-15 at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The purpose of the summit was to provide high school youth with an opportunity to develop knowledge and skills to address issues like nutrition education, physical fitness, […]
Our view: State dredging plan gives hope to marinas and boaters, maybe
Boaters and boating-related businesses in the region got another rare bit of good news on dredging this month. They’d better knock on wood, preferably that of a boat…In October, boating interests got an unqualified break when fisheries managers lifte…
Rutgers Cooperative Extension Joins University’s 250th Year Celebration
Rutgers Cooperative Extension and Cape May County, perfect together. That was the summation of Marilou Rochford’s presentation to freeholders Jan. 26. As Rutgers marks its 250th anniversary, Rochford, County Extension department head, the service, headquartered on Court House-South Dennis Road, plans many activities for the public. “Rutgers’ history is the nation’s history,” Rochford said. The university started before America’s Revolution, “and grew from a small, private Colonial college to one of the most diverse universities in America with over 65,000 students,” she added.
