Old Dominion University Archives

Fish Sticks Make No Sense

April 26, 2021 — There are many curious facts about fish sticks. The invention of this frozen food warranted a U.S. patent number, for instance: US2724651A. The record number of them stacked into a tower is 74. And, every year, a factory in Germany reportedly produces enough fish sticks to circle Earth four times.

But the most peculiar thing about fish sticks may be their mere existence. They debuted on October 2, 1953, when General Foods released them under the Birds Eye label. The breaded curiosities were part of a lineup of newly introduced rectangular foods, which included chicken sticks, ham sticks, veal sticks, eggplant sticks, and dried-lima-bean sticks. Only the fish stick survived. More than that, it thrived. In a world in which many people are wary of seafood, the fish stick spread even behind the Cold War’s Iron Curtain.

Beloved by some, merely tolerated by others, the fish stick became ubiquitous—as much an inevitable food rite of passage for kids as a Western cultural icon. There’s an entire South Park episode devoted to riffing off the term fish stick, and the artist Banksy featured the food in a 2008 exhibit. When Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her 90th birthday, in 2016, Birds Eye presented her with a sandwich that included blanched asparagus, saffron mayonnaise, edible flowers, caviar, and—most prominently—gold-leaf-encrusted fish sticks.

Paul Josephson, the self-described “Mr. Fish Stick,” is probably best at explaining why the fish stick became successful. Josephson teaches Russian and Soviet history at Colby College, in Maine, but his research interests are wide ranging (think sports bras, aluminum cans, and speed bumps). In 2008, he wrote what is the defining scholarly paper on fish sticks. The research for it required him to get information from seafood companies, which proved unexpectedly challenging. “In some ways, it was easier to get into Soviet archives having to do with nuclear bombs,” he recalls.

Josephson dislikes fish sticks. Even as a kid, he didn’t understand why they were so popular. “I found them dry,” he says. Putting aside personal preference, Josephson insists that the world didn’t ask for fish sticks. “No one ever demanded them.”

Instead, the fish stick solved a problem that had been created by technology: too much fish. Stronger diesel engines, bigger boats, and new materials increased catches after the Second World War. Fishers began scooping up more fish than ever before, Josephson says. To keep them from spoiling, fishers skinned, gutted, deboned, and froze their hauls on board.

Read the full story at The Atlantic

Hampton Roads plan to bring offshore wind supply chain to region gets GO Virginia funding

September 15, 2020 — A plan to bring the makers of huge offshore wind turbines to Hampton Roads has gained financial support from Virginia’s statewide economic development initiative.

GO Virginia has awarded a $529,788 grant to the Hampton Roads Alliance to attract a supply chain for the offshore wind industry to the region. The economic development agency will lead a team of organizations in the project, including the Port of Virginia, the state Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Old Dominion University and local chambers of commerce.

Part of the grant will be used to hire two staff positions at the economic development alliance, one of which has been filled. Matt Smith started two weeks ago as director of offshore wind for the organization. The alliance also plans to hire a marketing specialist. Alliance President and CEO Doug Smith declined to reveal the salaries of the two positions.

As part of the grant terms, the economic development alliance will provide matching funding, Doug Smith said. The economic development alliance will also continue to fully fund the program going forward. The Alliance is funded by 11 member localities — Chesapeake, Franklin, Hampton, Isle of Wight County, Newport News, Norfolk, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Southampton County, Suffolk and Virginia Beach — and more than 70 private-sector investors.

Read the full story at Inside Business

As High-Tide Flooding Worsens, More Pollution Is Washing to the Sea

March 15, 2019 — As high-tide flooding worsened in Norfolk, Virginia in recent years, Margaret Mulholland, a biological oceanographer at Old Dominion University, started to think about the debris she saw in the waters that flowed back into Chesapeake Bay. Tipped-over garbage cans. Tossed-away hamburgers. Oil. Dirty diapers. Pet waste.

“This water is coming up on the landscape and taking everything back into the river with it,” says Mulholland, a professor in the Department of Ocean, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences. “I was thinking how no one is counting this stuff (as runoff pollution). It drove me nuts.”

Nuts enough that she decided to sample those waters. That’s why on a recent Saturday morning she was steering her Chevy Bolt EV toward a narrow, flooded ribbon of Norfolk’s 51st Street at high tide. Marsh grasses bordered an inlet of the Lafayette River on one side of the street. A line of houses set back from the street rose on the other. Soon she came upon an overturned trash can, its contents underwater. A few feet away was a box. She opened it, and inside was a toilet. “Oh, this is good,” she said, pulling out her phone for a photo.

It’s an apt metaphor for her pioneering research project, which she has dubbed Measure the Muck.

With global sea levels steadily rising — already up 8 inches in the past century and now increasing at an average of 1.3 inches per decade — the incidence of high-tide “sunny day” or “blue sky” flooding is on the rise, especially along the U.S. East Coast. Those flooding events now routinely wash over sections of cities, and when the waters recede they take with them an excess of nutrients and a toxic mix of pollutants that flows into rivers, bays, and oceans.

Read the full story at Yale Environment 360

Science Center for Marine Fisheries Funds Three New Projects at Fall Meeting

November 28, 2018 — The following was released by the Science Center for Marine Fisheries:

At its fall meeting in Middletown, Rhode Island, the Industry Advisory Board of the Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS) awarded over $164,000 in grants for promising new marine science research.

The projects cover the impact of climate change on shellfish populations; how to properly determine the age of one of the ocean’s longest-lived species; and how offshore wind energy is likely to affect fisheries. All of the funded projects further the mission of the Center, which connects leading researchers and their partners in the industry to address critical marine science needs.

As part of the National Science Foundation’s Industry/University Cooperative Research Program, SCeMFiS used this meeting to set the shared priorities of our researchers from around the country and the industry advisors from the shellfish and finfish fisheries who approved the research.

“We see this as a great opportunity to partner with the scientific community, and we are looking forward to continue working with SCeMFiS on projects that affect our fisheries,” said Meghan Lapp, the Fisheries Liaison for Seafreeze, one of SCeMFiS’ Rhode Island members.

A full description of the funded projects is included below:

“The influence of global warming on the Atlantic surfclam and the ocean quahog” – Dr. Eric Powell (University of Southern Mississippi) and Dr. Roger Mann (Virginia Institute of Marine Science) will lead the study, which will examine the extent to which the populations of surf clams and ocean quahogs have shifted offshore in response to changing ocean temperatures. The study will sample and date ocean quahog and surfclam shells to identify the likelihood of a continued future shift in the species’ range. ($56,197 in funding approved)

“Ocean quahog population dynamics: validation of estimation procedures for an age-at-length key – supplement” – Dr. Powell and Dr. Mann will follow up on previous SCeMFiS research on how to properly age ocean quahogs in the northwest Atlantic. Ocean quahogs can live to over 200 years old, but their growth rates vary considerably over time. The study would continue efforts to develop a reliable way to estimate ocean quahog ages at particular lengths, known as an age-at-length key. ($29,037 in funding approved)

“Oceanography special issue on the effects of wind energy development on fisheries and the ecology of the continental shelf” – Dr. Eileen Hofmann (Old Dominion University) and Dr. Powell will work to develop a special issue of the scientific journal Oceanography, that will include 10-12 peer-reviewed papers presenting an overview on the state of research related to offshore wind development. They will cover, among other topics, the challenges faced by offshore wind development and the effect it has on nearby fisheries, fish populations, and the broader ocean ecology. ($79,200 in funding approved)

About SCeMFiS

The SCeMFiS mission utilizes academic and fisheries resources to address urgent scientific problems limiting sustainable fisheries. SCeMFiS develops methods, analytical and survey tools, datasets, and analytical approaches to improve sustainability of fisheries and reduce uncertainty in biomass estimates. SCeMFiS university partners, University of Southern Mississippi (lead institution), and Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, are the academic sites. Collaborating scientists who provide specific expertise in finfish, shellfish, and marine mammal research, come from a wide range of academic institutions including Old Dominion University, Rutgers University, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, University of Maryland, and University of Washington.

The need for the diverse services that SCeMFiS can provide to industry continues to grow, which has prompted a steady increase in the number of fishing industry partners. These services include immediate access to science expertise for stock assessment issues, rapid response to research priorities, and representation on stock assessment working groups. Targeted research leading to improvements in data collection, survey design, analytical tools, assessment models, and other needs to reduce uncertainty in stock status and improve reference point goals.

Read the full release here

$4.6 million grant will allow genetic time travel for Old Dominion professor

September 27, 2017 — Kent Carpenter developed an interest in fish early in life.

“It started when I watched Jacques Cousteau at 13 years old,” said Carpenter who earned an undergraduate degree in marine biology at Florida Institute for Technology in 1975 and later went on to earn his doctorate at the University of Hawaii.

From 1975 to 1978, he was in the Peace Corps based in the Philippines.

That is when – and where – Carpenter said his interest in ichthyology, or the study of fish, flourished.

“I was in charge of coral reef research for the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources” (in the Philippines), he said.

Now a professor in the department of biological sciences at Old Dominion University, Carpenter has been awarded a $4.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

Read the full story at Inside Business