Community Updates

Ken’s Seafood

Shrimp Fish Gator Tail Crawfish Blue Crabs Scallops And More! Support Your Local Seafood Industry! FRESH!

Tue - Thu 12-6 Fri - Sat 10-6 Sun 11-5 9270 Ford Ave. Richmond Hill

(912) 756-8868

Call Ahead For Pick-up!

CIRCA 1870 GOODBREA D HOUSE

BED & BREAKFAST INN

Four andard gue r ms & two suites, all wi large private ba r ms. ay wi us and visit Cumberland Island and hi oric . Marys! Pet friendly. Dietary needs met.

Call for special Southern Tides Rates! (912) 882-7490

www.g dbreadhouse.com info@g dbreadhouse.com 209 Osborne . . Marys, Georgia

What's the Hook? Awards

A seafood pitch competition launched by UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant will award funding to seven projects that support Georgia’s working waterfronts and seafood products. The competition, called What’s the Hook?, is funded by the National Sea Grant College Program and is designed to help individuals and businesses in the seafood industry recover from economic disruptions created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this year, small business owners, university professionals and non-profit organizations presented their ideas to a committee representing diverse businesses, cultures, and communities in coastal Georgia.

The projects selected for funding were awarded based on their ability to promote Georgia’s unique coastal seafood-related experiences, build the resilience of Georgia’s working waterfronts, strengthen Georgia’s local seafood and tourism-related industries, and assist businesses with redefining their operations or business models in response to the pandemic.

The full list of awardees include:

Oyster Trail Development – Patrick Holladay, Georgia Grown Trail 17

The Agnes Marie Experience – Don McGraw, Coco’s Tybee Island

Coastal Georgia Aquaculture Exhibit & Tours – Charlie Phillips, Sapelo Sea Farms, Phillips Seafood & The Fish Dock Bar & Grill

Georgia Seafood On My Mind! – Bob Pinckney, UGA Entrepreneurship Program

A Catalyst for Coastal Seafood Eco-Tourism – Alex Smetana, Darien-McIntosh County Chamber of Commerce

The Darien Social Relaunch – Amy Spinks, The Darien Social

More From the Shore – Marty Williams, God’s Oceans, LLC

More information about the projects, including the videos of the pitches are available at gacoast.uga.edu/whats-the-hook/

ABYC Courses Available

The American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC) offers marine trades training with options for both online and in-person courses. All courses are available to both ABYC members and non-members, though member registration rates are lower.

The following online courses include ABYC instructors leading live online sessions with Q&A, recordings of each session available the next day and online proctored certification exams.

Upcoming courses:

• Marine Systems Certification (three days/week for three weeks, 9:00 - 10:30 a.m. each day), May 3 - 19 • ABYC Standards Certification (three days/week for one week, 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. each day), May 3 - 5 • Gasoline Engines Certification (three days/week for two weeks, 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. each day), May 10 - 19 (only gas engine certification in 2022)

The next courses won't be available until Fall/Winter 2022.

For information about ABYC membership visit: abycinc.org/page/Join

For information about courses and registration visit: abycinc.org/events/event_list. asp or contact Casey Bates at cbates@abycinc.org (410) 990-4460 ext. 100.

Please join the GA Coastal Management Program for a Brownbag Presentation from Gray's Reef Superintendent Stan Rogers & Research Ecologist Kim Roberson on A Virtual Tour of Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary. The event will be held at the Susan Shipman Environmental Learning Center at GADNR Coastal headquarters, One Conservation Way, Brunswick, on April 20, from noon until 1:00 Photo provided by GRNMS p.m. This presentation will provide a virtual tour of Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary (GRNMS) including an overview of ongoing and new sanctuary programs and initiatives. To understand how the programs and initiatives support the management goals of the sanctuary, sanctuary representatives will start at the beginning of why GRNMS was designated in 1981, discuss major milestones over the years, and then provide the latest on resource protection, scientific research and monitoring, and education and outreach initiatives including upcoming condition report update and management plan review.

GRNMS, off the coast of Georgia, contains one of the largest nearshore, live-bottom reefs of the southeastern United States. Located 19 miles offshore from Sapelo Island, GRNMS is currently the only protected natural reef on the continental shelf off the Georgia coast and one of only a few marine protected areas in the ocean between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and Cape Canaveral, Florida.

NOAA designated the sanctuary in 1981 to protect the quality of this unique and fragile ecological community. The approximately 22-square-mile sanctuary is just a small part of U.S. territorial waters, yet its value as a natural marine habitat is recognized nationally and internationally. Please contact Kelly Hill at Kelly.Hill@dnr.ga.gov with any questions or to reserve a seat.

Manomet Awarded Wildlife Viewing Grant

Six wildlife viewing grant proposals were selected by the DNR Wildlife Resources Division as 2022 recipients in the Wildlife Viewing Grants Program, including one from the coastal area.

The grants, funded by the Georgia Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund, help develop and enhance wildlife viewing options, with an emphasis on State Wildlife Action Plan species and habitats. The plan is a comprehensive strategy to conserve these animals, plants and places before they become rarer and costlier to conserve or restore.

The coastal recipient, Manomet, will receive $2,999 to create shorebird guides and banded-bird stickers to help steward programs inform the public about priority species on Georgia beaches and other coastal sites.

The grants are small – capped at $3,000 each – but the interest they tap is big. According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey, about 2.4 million people took part in wildlife-viewing activities in Georgia in 2011. The survey estimated related spending at $1.8 billion.

The Wildlife Conservation Section is charged with restoring and conserving nongame wildlife, rare native plant species and natural habitats through research, management and education. The section depends largely on fundraisers, grants and donations to the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund. Sales and renewals of DNR’s eagle, monarch and hummingbird license plates are the leading fundraiser. BLACKBIRD CHARTER CO.

CAPTAIN RAVEN ABLARD 307•851•6314

Sunset Cruise Fossil Hunting Dolphin Tour Bird Watching Golden Isles Tour Onshore Seining Inshore Fishing Day & Night Water Taxi Kayak Taxi

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Safe Harbor

Rigging Services, LLC

Proudly Serving Southeast Georgia and Northeast Florida

231-578-5087

info@safeharborriggingservices.com www.safeharborriggingservices.com John S. Ramsey, Owner