Drawing on this feedback, the project team produced a series of educational materials bearing the slogan “Protect Our Fisheries - Trash Unused Worms and Packaging.” Materials included brochures, stickers, and magnets, which provided the URL for the project’s website. To develop and refine this messaging campaign, Maryland Sea Grant Extension consulted extensively with bait shop owners in the Mid-Atlantic region. In 2014, the partners developed a research-based messaging campaign and intervention strategy to encourage anglers to discard the bait packaging properly in the trash rather than dropping it in local waterways. The research-and-outreach effort was conducted by a partnership including the University of Maryland at College Park, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, and Sea Grant programs in Delaware, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Anglers across the Mid-Atlantic use these worms, which are shipped live from Maine, as bait, and the seaweed packaging in which the worms are packed can carry invasive “hitchhiker” species like the European green crab.
More recently, Maryland Sea Grant took a leadership role in a comprehensive research and outreach effort aimed at slowing the spread of invasive species through the marine bloodworm trade. The template is available for download from our website and has been used by several states in the country. This template, developed in collaboration with the Mid-Atlantic Panel on Aquatic Invasive Species, outlines steps that decision-makers can take once a new and potentially harmful non-native species has been identified in the waters of their state. To provide an example of how to use the template, Maryland Sea Grant completed a rapid response plan for Maryland. In 2009, Maryland Sea Grant played a key role in the creation of a template for rapid response planning for aquatic invasive species in the Mid-Atlantic region. To safeguard local ecosystems, Maryland Sea Grant supports programs that seek to prevent the establishment of new invasive species in the region.
The introduction of aquatic invasive species to Chesapeake Bay, transported through the ballast water of cargo ships or by live animal and plant trades, can bring ecologically harmful consequences. Categories: Healthy Coastal Ecosystems, Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture, Education, Maryland, Resilience Toolkit Archive, Coastal Economy, Water Resources, Decision Support Tools, Guides & Manuals
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