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@ncstate_cmast

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NC State's Center for Marine Sciences & Technology (CMAST)
📍Morehead City, North Carolina

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Living shorelines use natural materials and vegetation to stabilize shorelines and reduce erosion. Unlike traditional “hard” shoreline stabilization techniques, such as concrete seawalls, living shorelines are made of natural materials such as plants, sand, rock, or oyster shells.

Because they incorporate natural elements, living shorelines provide environmental benefits such as habitat for fish and wildlife. They can also become more stable over time as the plants and roots grow. Evidence shows that, during major storms, a living shoreline performs better than a hardened shoreline.

If you want to learn more about the important role living shorelines are playing across NC, check out our awesome video at go.ncsu.edu/living-shorelines, linked in our bio!

(The living shoreline elements in this video are at the Carteret Community College campus in Morehead City. Parters of the project included @carteretcc, @nccoastalfed, @ncstate_cmast, @dukemarinelab, @unc_ims, @nc_dmf, @noaa, @ncdeq, and many student and community volunteers!)

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STYD is more than a workshop; it’s an opportunity to enrich your students’ learning!

Don’t miss the opportunity to enhance your elementary education through the STEM to Your Doorstep program! Access free materials through our equipment loan program and acquire the skills to feel confident using them. 💪

Bring STEM to Your Doorstep with the Coastal Satellite Office!

🗓️ October 2, 2026
🕜 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
📍CMAST in Morehead City Interested?

Learn more by following the link in our bio!

#TheScienceHouse #NCSO #NCSU #ProfessionalDevelopment #ProDevo #Workshop #NCState #CMAST #Science #STEM #teacher #teaching #MiddleSchool

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Applications are open for the sixth annual NC State Blue Economy Workshop (BEW26)!

This free, interdisciplinary workshop allows you to brainstorm solutions to the challenges facing the ocean and coastal communities. This year's theme is, "Innovations for what’s grown and caught in coastal NC."

Regardless of your major, don't miss your chance to come down to the coast this October to learn about innovation and entrepreneurship in support of the ocean-based economy! Visit the link in our bio or go.ncsu.edu/beip for more information, and apply before Sept. 24, 2026.

🗓️ WHEN: Oct. 23-24, 2026
📍 WHERE: Hospitality and Culinary Arts Center, Carteret Community College and Center for Marine Science and Technology (CMAST), Morehead City, NC. (Lodging and catering are provided for NC State students!)

You'll get to...
🔹 Network with innovators, subject matter experts and other stakeholders
🔹 Apply your STEM skills to real-world challenges facing the ocean and coastal communities
🔹 Build your portfolio and walk away with a career-relevant experience you can showcase to future employers or graduate programs

#bew26 #blueeconomy Image of students looking up a dolphin skeleton. Text reading: Oct. 23-24. Sixth Annual Blue Economy Workshop. “Innovations for what’s grown and caught in coastal NC.”

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Look closely — can you spot the fish in each of these videos? Even the third one shows a sheepshead swimming around, promise 🤞

Collected by graduated student Rebecca Ruiz, these videos show different restored oyster reefs in June, July, September and October of 2024. Oyster reefs play crucial roles in our ecosystem, such as water filtering and erosion control. The amount of fish that roam around a reef can help indicate how healthy it is 🐟

For her master’s thesis, Ruiz monitored restored oyster reefs in Pamlico Sound with videos like these and created a fish detection model. First, she went through about 20 hours of footage and identified the fish and other animals that showed up. She made more than 6,000 labels!

She then used her work to train a machine learning model to detect and identify fish, creating a better snapshot of species diversity at the various reefs. She also used sonar to track the size and movement of fish. All of that data can be used to determine how healthy the restored reefs are.

Her work shows that sonar and video are effective survey methods to better understand how fish and other species use the reefs. The data is robust, consistent and scalable, so Ruiz’s survey methods are expected to have applications in both the government and private sectors.

She defended her thesis last month. Congratulations Rebecca Ruiz, and good luck on your next chapter!

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Its National Oyster Day! 🦪 UNC IMS wants to find out, can beneficial bacteria introduced early in life help oysters withstand disease months later?

Postdoctoral researcher Dr. Steph Smith is investigating this question using controlled tank experiments that challenge juvenile eastern oysters with the pathogen Vibrio harveyi under elevated temperature conditions.

This work builds on Steph’s recent research showing that a naturally occurring beneficial bacterium can dramatically improve oyster larval survival during exposure to pathogenic Vibrio species—even under heat stress. Now, we’re asking whether those early-life probiotic treatments provide lasting protection as oysters grow.

The team will monitor oyster mortality, stress responses, and changes in the oyster microbiome to better understand how beneficial microbes may improve shellfish resilience in a changing environment.

This research is part of an ongoing collaboration between the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences, Duke University Marine Lab, CMAST, the UNC Wilmington Shellfish Hatchery, and North Carolina shellfish growers to develop science-based strategies that support sustainable oyster aquaculture.

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Record-breaking 919-pound blue marlin 🤝 NC State researchers.

A 24-year partnership between @NCState_CMAST and the Big Rock fishing tournament has provided a unique opportunity for NC State researchers to sample blue marlin. The highly migratory pelagic fish is difficult to obtain for scientific sampling, but through the partnership, researchers have access to the a relatively large sample size within the same time of year and same area of the ocean from year to year.

Learn more about the findings at the link in our bio. Group of seven people in white shirts posing beside a large marlin hanging from a dock with two American flags in the background.

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Registration is now open for the 2026 North Carolina Coastal Conference!

Join researchers, resource managers, educators, students, community leaders, and coastal professionals from across the state for two days of learning, collaboration, and conversations about North Carolina's coast.

Whether you work on the coast or simply care about its future, this conference is an opportunity to connect, share ideas, and explore the latest coastal science, policy, and management.

🔗 Link in bio to register!
📅 November 17–18, 2026
📍 Chapel Hill, NC

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A fishy field work day🐠

It's difficult to observe natural mortality (a Gag being eaten by a predator), but with acoustic tags, we can find out if this happens.

Understanding the natural mortality rate is important for fisheries management because it is used to find out how many fish can be harvested sustainably🎣📈

Tagging fish can reveal other valuable information such as migration patterns or habitat preferences too! 🐟🪸

#marinescience #fishing #phdlife #graduateschool #learning

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Fish family time🤗🐠

As many biologists say, "Fish are like trees, except they are invisible and they move."

Physically counting all the fish to understand their population size is impossible. Luckily, scientists have come up with some neat ways to understand population sizes!

#marinebiology #fish #learning #phdlife #ocean

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Are you interested in marine science?🪸🪼🦈

Bethany (@shipwreck.girl ) and I just met while volunteering on a NOAA research cruise. We realized we were both NOAA Hollings Scholars back in the day and wanted to share this opportunity for undergraduates. 🐠🌊 @noaaeducation

This scholarship program is for sophomores during their undergraduate studies📚Prior marine science experience is not required, and it’s a chance to tell your story and connect with who you are and what you value as a scientist🧬🔬🦞

Comment with any questions you have! We’re happy to help💙

#Science #scholarships #marinescience #graduateschool #advice

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North Carolina Sea Grant recently awarded core funding to nine faculty from universities across the state. For two years, these researchers will apply innovative approaches to diverse coastal topics.

Additionally, most projects provide student support and training opportunities. Swipe through to see each of the projects and check out the link in our bio for the full feature!

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