Sea Grant Week '97 will be at Monona Terrace, a new convention center designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, now under construction. Sea Grant Week is a biennial gathering for Sea Grant directors and other staff and affiliates. The 1997 meeting will feature presentations on the most effective Sea Grant research, education, and outreach efforts in seafood technology and ecosystem issues, and will also include group meetings and planning sessions. Sea Grant Week '97 will commemorate Sea Grant's 30-year anniversary. The risk of aquatic nuisance species invading Prince William Sound is the topic for a workshop sponsored by the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Registration is free.
It is widely believed that most invasions of aquatic nuisance species around the world have been via ballast water carried by large vessels for stability. While most of those species die in the receiving ports, a small number can cause major ecosystem disruption, as they have in San Francisco Bay, the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, Australia, and the Black Sea. The Port of Valdez receives about 20 million metric tons of tanker ballast water annually. Little is known about what species are arriving in tanker ballast water, what species could survive in Prince William Sound, what species can survive in the dirty ballast water and the ballast water treatment facility, and what impact survivors would have. Fisheries Scholarship Alaska Sea Grant has joined with the National Fisheries Institute, the nation's largest seafood processing organization, to initiate an annual scholarships for deserving students.