Sacred Heart University researcher to study ocean literacy

Jo-Marie Kasinak has extensive experience studying the ecology of Long Island Sound. Horseshoe crabs, the fearsome looking but harmless living fossils from the genus Limulus, became a main point of focus for her work, which included participation in Project Limulus, a community-oriented program where volunteers received training and instruction in cataloguing horseshoe crab numbers.

Now, the researcher and instructor at Sacred Heart University has received $143,309 from the Connecticut Sea Grant organization, plus almost $90,000 in matching funds, to study not just horseshoe crabs but the volunteers who participate in community education programs.

Kasinak is seeking to define the “ocean profiles ” of participants in public outreach programs like Project Limulus to see if the programs are effective at inculcating a deeper understanding of marine environments and the forces that shape them.

“We ‘re working together to try to develop an assessment tool to measure ocean identity and specifically how ocean identity can be impacted by informal education, ” Kasinak said of the project, which involves a collaboration with partners from University of Connecticut, Southern Connecticut State University and Cardiff University in Wales.

“This is a big collaboration between four different universities, ” she said. “I ‘m excited to be part of this team. This is our second round of applying for the funding, so we know how selective and competitive it is. ”

The research could prove important for designing future outreach programs, Kasinak said, and seeks to answer a few key questions such as: “Will they go to a museum afterwards and learn about animals or the ocean? How do these programs change a person ‘s connection to or understanding of ocean environments? ”

Kasinak added that while the specifics of the program are still in development, the team already has a good grasp of how to approach their task.

“We are going to use a survey tool we are developing, ” she explained. “That ‘s actually the first part of the project, coming up with what are called ‘instruments ‘ in psychology when developing a tool like this. But, basically, we ‘ll develop a tool that helps assess what a person ‘s ocean identity is in the beginning and then after they participate in an informal education event to see if that changes. ”

While Kasinak has observed people change their attitudes towards the ocean as a result of these programs, she stressed the importance of having more than anecdotal information about the impact of this work on communities. She believed this could have a major impact on the design of public outreach programs and help their designers figure out how to make key improvements.

Kasinak intends to analyze the impacts of participants in upcoming horseshoe crab studies, which remain economically important thanks to their role in pharmaceutical research and development.

“We use their blood in a test called Limulus Amebocyte Lysate test that we use to make sure that vaccines are safe and don ‘t have any bacterial contamination, ” Kasinak said, noting the crabs can be repeatedly harvested for this process — they are pulled out of the water and some of their blue blood is extracted before they are released and potentially captured again in a later year.

However, it is unclear at what rate the crabs survive the process. According to Kasinak, the Long Island Sound has seen horseshoe crab numbers decline, while places with certain limits on harvesting have not.

As a result, measuring the response of outreach programs on improving the ocean identity of laymen could be valuable for a number of stakeholders — anyone from a fisherman to a politician would need to understand how to improve public awareness of the importance of sea life.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to do the work and excited to see what comes out of it, ” she said.