Aidan Bodeo-Lomicky, a 2022 Monmouth University graduate with a degree in marine and environmental biology and policy, recently co-founded the nonprofit wildlife/animal law organization Animal Counsel. While at Monmouth, Bodeo-Lomicky received a grant through the Urban Coast Institute’s (UCI) Heidi Lynn Sculthorpe Scholars Program to research threats to the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, working under the guidance of former Rechnitz Family/UCI Endowed Chair in Marine and Environmental Law and Policy Randall Abate, the author of multiple books on animal law. Bodeo-Lomicky was also awarded the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) prestigious Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship.

He has since earned a J.D. from the University of Colorado Law School, where he served as managing editor of the Colorado Environmental Law Journal and published work on how to better protect the world’s rarest and most recently discovered whale species, the Rice’s whale. He recently began a clerkship with Chief Judge Jeffrey Pilkington on Colorado’s First Judicial District Court, to be followed by clerkships on the Colorado Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

We caught up with Aidan to learn more about what’s ahead for Animal Counsel.

Congratulations on founding Animal Counsel! What is the mission of the organization and what kind of work do you expect it to do?

Thanks so much! Above all, our mission is to advance the interests of animals through law and policy work. We’re focused on three main areas: wildlife, domestic animals, and rights of nature. For now, we are primarily writing academic and policy papers, and we just brought on two law student interns to help contribute to the mission. We also hope to expand into litigation in the long term, but for now we’re leaning into the think tank model. Animal law is a rapidly developing field, and our goal is to contribute our voices and stay at the leading edge as it continues to evolve.

How did Animal Counsel come to be?

I met my co-founders, Shelby White and Mason Liddell, during our first year of law school. We all shared a deep passion for wildlife/animal issues, but quickly noticed the lack of opportunities available for students in this field. So, we restarted Colorado Law’s Animal Legal Defense Fund chapter and began working on hands-on projects like public comments and pro bono work with existing NGOs. The three of us also worked together on our environmental law journal and clinic, getting lots of valuable legal research and writing experience. After working on so many practical animal law and policy projects together—and because our initial post-grad positions weren’t specific to this field—we decided to create our own NGO as a vessel to continue this work (and help others do the same).

Can you tell us about the need for an organization like Animal Counsel? Is there a shortage of representation around animal law and welfare generally in the U.S.?

There are many groups in the wild and domestic animal spaces doing great work for these causes. However, animals and the environment are under greater threat than ever before, and countless issues need more attention from scientists, lawyers, and policymakers. Specifically, there is a shortage of policy work being done at the intersection of animal and environmental law, as well as in the more cutting-edge areas of animal rights and rights of nature. Beyond this, we’ve noticed that there are far more people interested in doing this work than there are opportunities available. Tens of thousands of law students, undergraduates, and others want to devote their time and skills to protecting wild and domestic animals, but it can be overwhelming deciphering where to even start. Aside from the prestigious and difficult-to-obtain internships with the major NGOs and government agencies, there aren’t many obvious options. So, not only did we want to create new internship opportunities, we also wanted to show that students can simply dive into the work themselves. Of course, having mentors in the field is extremely beneficial when getting started, so we intend to be a resource for any students looking to get their feet wet with public commenting, policy writing, and more on behalf of animals.

How did your time at Monmouth and work with the UCI prepare you for the steps you’re taking today?

As I mentioned, mentorship is the best way to navigate any new field. Right from the time I got to Monmouth, Professor Randall Abate and UCI Director Tony MacDonald were instrumental in guiding me through the world of wildlife law and policy. I had the opportunity to take a handful of incredible law classes and write two independent legal research papers about endangered whales with Professor Abate, and I worked on real-world ocean policy issues for the UCI under Tony’s guidance. I was also connected to outside opportunities with organizations like the Earth Law Center and NOAA, which gave me invaluable insight into the field and a big leg up when applying to and starting law school. I was able to figure out my exact interests and path thanks to my time at Monmouth and the UCI, and I hope to be able to provide similar mentorship to others as I progress through my career.

What are the ways people can support or get involved with Animal Counsel?

We’d love to hear from anybody interested in working with or supporting us! We have some exciting projects in the works and are very interested in ideas for more. Our website has more information, as well as a contact form (or you can simply email us at contact@animalcounsel.org). We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram if you’d like to stay up-to-date. And of course, as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, we’re fully funded by people’s generous (and tax-deductible) donations. We’re grateful for any amount, and it will go a long way in helping us develop and expand our work for wild and domestic animals: https://www.animalcounsel.org/donate. Thank you!

Endowed Professor of Marine Science Jason Adolf delivered a presentation on Monmouth University’s research on the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) for surveying fish populations at the 2025 Mid-Atlantic Ocean Forum on May 7 in Baltimore. Adolf’s presentation highlighted how the technique of analyzing materials filtered from water samples can be paired with traditional techniques to improve fisheries monitoring plans.

As fish swim through the waters, they leave behind dandruff-like cells and bodily fluids that can be analyzed and matched to the genetic barcodes of others to determine their species. This crime scene investigation-style approach to marine detection has emerged as a more humane and less expensive means of studying fish populations than traditional methods that require their capture.

The session, “eDNA in Marine Systems: Applications for the Mid-Atlantic,” focused on the potential application of eDNA to marine and coastal natural resource management and how it can contribute to monitoring and decision-making processes. The session also included presentations by Jan McDowell, Ph.D., and Angelina Dichiera, Ph.D., of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science; and Kesley Leonard, Ph.D., of the Shinnecock Nation.

Hosted by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean, the forum is the region’s premier annual event dedicated to ocean planning. UCI Director Tony MacDonald and Fisheries and Ocean Conservation Fellow Jay Odell moderated sessions at the event. Click here to view additional videos from the Forum.

Join the Urban Coast Institute for a beach sweep in Asbury Park on Saturday, Aug. 23, from 6-8 p.m. Help us prevent plastics and litter from entering our ocean while connecting with our partners the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association and fellow beach lovers at the Jersey Shore! Click here for full details and registration.

Monmouth University marine and environmental biology and policy student Christopher Reigel was one of the dozens of students who presented posters at the School of Science’s 2025 Summer Research Program Symposium on Aug. 8. Watch above as Reigel discusses his summer research on improving the detection of the endangered Atlantic sturgeon in near-shore ocean environments with environmental DNA (eDNA).

Reigel’s project was supported by the School of Science and the Urban Coast Institute through a federal grant secured by Congressman Frank Pallone. Read the abstract below to learn more about his work.

Project Title: Development and Testing of a Novel oPCR Assay for Endangered Atlantic Sturgeon Environmental DNA (eDNA) In Continental Shelf Waters

Student & Major: Christopher Reigel, marine and environmental biology and policy

Faculty Mentors: Jason Adolf, Ph.D. and Elizabeth Clark, Department of Biology

Funding Sources: Monmouth University School of Science, Urban Coast Institute, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service-Northeast Fisheries Science Center 2024 Earmark Ecological Resilience in the Hudson-Raritan (Principal investigators: Jason Adolf and Tony MacDonald)

Abstract: The Atlantic sturgeon, Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus, is an endangered anadromous fish of historic ecological and commercial importance. Atlantic sturgeon are currently monitored using traditional surveying methods such as gillnetting and acoustic telemetry, which can be costly and logistically challenging to undertake, making it difficult to effectively monitor this species across their broad range. Environmental DNA (eDNA) has emerged as a useful complementary tool to traditional surveying for many aquatic species. A qPCR probe-based assay for the monitoring of Atlantic sturgeon has been published, but the authors concluded that the assay was not designed for use in low population density areas, making it less suitable for monitoring sturgeon during the time they are migrating through continental shelf waters. The objective of our study is to develop an optimized probe-based qPCR assay for Atlantic sturgeon that can successfully detect their presence in ocean water samples. Optimization measures included making the assay amplicon length shorter and modifying qPCR protocols. We have validated this assay in silico and are further validating it against DNA extracts from Atlantic sturgeon and closely related/cohabitating species (e.g. shortnosed sturgeon, menhaden, river herring, gizzard shad), as well as field samples where Atlantic sturgeon have been verified by capture or metabarcoding methods. Development of a more sensitive qPCR assay for Atlantic sturgeon will better allow tracking of this important species throughout its natural range.

You are invited to take part in a research study about how climate change is affecting the mental health and wellbeing of young adults in New Jersey. As you know, climate change is not only a global environmental crisis—it also impacts people on a deeply personal and emotional level, especially those living in communities that experience environmental injustice or climate-related disasters.

This study is being conducted as part of a doctoral dissertation in social work. It explores how feeling connected to your community might help buffer or protect against the stress and anxiety many young people feel about climate change. We are especially interested in how these experiences differ across neighborhoods and identities in New Jersey.

Your voice matters. By completing this survey, you’ll be helping researchers, policymakers, and community leaders better understand how to promote mental health and climate resilience—especially in communities that are most impacted by environmental and social injustices.

The survey includes questions about your thoughts and feelings related to climate change, your sense of connection to your community, and some background questions about you and where you live. It will take about 10 minutes to complete.

As a thank you, after completing the survey, you will have the option to enter a raffle to win up to $1,000 in Visa gift cards. To protect your privacy, your email will be collected separately and will not be connected to your survey responses in any way.

For questions about the survey, contact Urban Coast Institute Community Engagement and Outreach Specialist Rachel Forbes at rforbes@monmouth.edu.

The UCI’s signature annual event returns to Monmouth University’s historic Great Hall on Oct. 9. The theme of this year’s Future of the Ocean Symposium is “Exploring the Wine-Dark Sea – U.S. Ocean Science and Technology: Keys to Prosperity and Security.” Our 2025 Champion of the Ocean Awards Luncheon will directly follow.

This year we’ll also be celebrating the UCI’s 20th anniversary. Come and help us set sail to serve the University and our communities for the next two decades.

Visit our event page to view the current lineup of confirmed speakers and honorees and more information.

Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute (UCI) Director Tony MacDonald attended the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice, France, from June 9-13. UNOC 2025 brought together over 15,000 diverse stakeholders from governments, UN agencies, international NGOs, civil society and the private sector to discuss ways to accelerate action to conserve and sustainably use the ocean. In addition to representing the UCI, MacDonald attended in his role as chair of the National Academy of Science Ocean Studies Board’s U.S. Decade Committee for Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and as a Global Ocean Forum (GOF) board member.

MacDonald served as a panelist in the conference session “Bridging Science, Policy and Action: Enhancing Cross-Sectoral Collaboration for Inclusive and Equitable Ocean Management and Governance.” MacDonald’s remarks addressed how regional ocean management efforts supported by UCI, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO) and Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal could be used as a model for other countries and leveraged to advance cross-sectoral conservation and sustainable use and of marine biodiversity under the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) treaty.

The panel was moderated by María José González-Bernat, Ph.D., co-director of the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA) Ecosystems Program, and Peter Ricketts, Ph.D., former president and vice-chancellor of Acadia University (Canada) and GOF Board member. Other panelists included:

• H.E Ambassador Julio Cordano, director of environment, climate change and oceans, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile
• H.E. Ambassador Viliami Va’inga Tone, permanent representative of the Kingdom of Tonga to the U.N.
• Professor Robbert Dijkgraaf, former minister of education, culture and science of the Netherlands
• Peter Haugan, policy director at Institute of Marine Research, Norway
• Lynne Shannon, principal researcher leading the Marine Sustainability group in the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town
• Professor Jean-Christophe Martin, University Cote d’Azur
• Professor María Fernanda Morales Camacho, Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica
• Louise Lieberknecht, senior expert in marine sustainability, GRID-Arendal
• Jasmine Nyagah, University of Nairobi, Kenya

Among the many ocean colleagues at UNOC 2025, MacDonald had the privilege of running into 2015 UCI National Champion of the Champion honoree and ocean explorer Sylvia Earle, Ph.D., and Kate Killerlain Morrison, former MARCO executive director and current managing director of Earle’s conservation organization, Mission Blue.

For more information on UNOC 2025 and its outcomes, click here.

Heather Korzun recently joined the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute (UCI) as a community engagement fellow supported through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Coastal Resilience Fellowship Program.

In this role, Korzun will support UCI Associate Director Tom Herrington in coordinating project pipeline work for the Building a Climate Ready NJ initiative, which is funded by NOAA and led by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. In 2024, the UCI was named a partner in the initiative, which aims to harness statewide expertise to advance resilience planning, project design, construction, and education across New Jersey’s 16 coastal counties.

Korzun will work to ensure that multiple education, engagement, and training activities are planned and implemented in conjunction with Building a Climate Ready NJ core activities. She will work closely with Herrington and UCI Community Engagement Specialist Rachel Forbes to gather knowledge from residents, community leaders, and other stakeholders that will help identify resilience projects that are most needed and would be the most impactful. The recommendations will then be entered into the project pipeline for further study and eventual implementation.

Korzun most recently served as a planning fellow at the Land Conservancy of New Jersey, assisting municipalities across the state with developing open space and recreation plans and helping target lands that would be valuable for conservation. The communities she worked with ranged from rural towns with rolling hills of bucolic farmlands to some of the state’s most densely populated neighborhoods. 

“What excites me most about this role is the opportunity to deepen my work in community engagement,” she said. “Working on Camden’s Coastal Resilience Plan helped me understand the community dynamics that impact planning efforts. I am grateful for the chance to learn from New Jersey’s coastal communities and help connect them with resources that strengthen their long-term resilience.”

A native of the Virginia Beach area, Korzun recalls first being drawn to environmental policy work as an undergraduate taking a sustainability in business course. She felt a sense of climate anxiety while delving into lessons about the ways climate change was disrupting ordinary people’s lives and felt a calling to act. 

“I was really stressed about that for a while, but I realized that the only way to alleviate some of that anxiety was to do work that was directly part of the solutions,” she said. 

Korzun graduated from Mary Baldwin University with a bachelor’s degree in sustainable business before completing her master of public administration at the University of Pennsylvania. As a student, she led community engagement projects and educational events about sustainability and has supported research projects on emerging contaminants and climate resilience.

Monmouth University students have begun mining a trove of water quality data collected by the Coastal Lakes Observing Network (CLONet) to make important discoveries about the health of a dozen local lakes and marine life populations within them.

Residents of participating lake communities, Monmouth University scientists and student researchers gathered on campus June 23 for the 2025 Coastal Lakes Summer Summit, where they shared insights and news on their work from the past year. Monmouth students delivered two presentations on what was found through a statistical analysis of CLONet data and environmental DNA (eDNA) materials collected from the waters.

Through CLONet, Monmouth University School of Science and Urban Coast Institute (UCI) staff and students partner with community groups and residents to sample coastal lakes in Monmouth County for temperature, salinity, clarity, dissolved oxygen, and phycocyanin levels – an important indicator of harmful algal blooms – and file their readings to an online database for analysis. Water bodies monitored include: Deal Lake, Fletcher Lake, Jackson Woods Pond, Lake Como, Lake Takanassee, Shadow Lake, Silver Lake, Spring Lake, Sunset Lake, Sylvan Lake, Wesley Lake and Wreck Pond. Since its launch in 2019, volunteer community scientists working with CLONet have collected over 2,200 water samples from Monmouth County lakes.

Sunset & Deal Lakes: A Tale of Two Fish Populations

Dylan DiBella, who graduated with a marine and environmental biology and policy (MEBP) degree in May, compared eDNA extracted from Sunset and Deal lakes over the course of several months with the CLONet water samples to see if any relationships between the water conditions and marine life emerged. Sampling eDNA is a crime scene investigation-style approach to marine detection that has emerged as a more humane and less expensive means of studying fish populations than traditional methods that require their capture. As fish swim through the waters, they leave behind dandruff-like cells and bodily fluids that can be analyzed and matched to the genetic barcodes of others to determine their species.

DiBella displayed a chart estimating the top 10 most abundant fish species that testing determined to be living in the lakes (see carousel above). He said he was surprised to learn how different they were given how geographically close they are to each other, pointing out there were no species shared between either lake’s top three.

His research, which was supported by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, also examined how certain fish species reacted to harmful algal blooms (HABs) and other changes in the waters. For example, he found a negative correlation between white perch eDNA and elevated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) readings, which can be an indicator of a HAB’s onset. This suggests white perch can serve a living warning system to those who manage the lakes.

“Think about the canaries in the coal mine back in the day. Once the canaries start dropping, you know the air quality is not good anymore,” DiBella said. “White perch can function in the same exact way. Once we see it start to respond to harmful algal blooms, we may be able to determine where it’s going to occur and when it’s going to occur, and it can indicate the overall health of the lakes.”

Wesley Lake Sees Improvements

MEBP student Olivia Fowles and statistics students Anthony Stirone, and Brandon Govea, who all earned their degrees in May, sought to discern whether there were any notable long-term or seasonal trends visible in the water data over the years. The team also focused on whether the data showed any changes in water quality in areas where communities had invested in green infrastructure.

In 2020, Wesley Lake underwent a restoration project that included the installation of 12 floating wetland islands that have native plants growing upon them and roots that reach into the water. The islands were designed to remove excess phosphorous and nitrogen that fuel HABs while providing extra habitat within the heavily developed environment. While community members at the meeting said they’ve seen birds and fish taking advantage of the islands, their benefits to water quality had not been measured until now.

According to the team’s analysis, Welsey Lake saw dissolved oxygen (DO) levels improve at a rate greater than any other CLONet lake in the years since the islands were added. Endowed Professor of Marine Science Jason Adolf noted that seeing DO improvements is an important milestone, as low oxygen levels are frequently tied to fish kills, HABs, and poor lake health overall.

“Just like you and me, two minutes without oxygen is going to kill something in the water,” Adolf said.

Among other findings, Sylvan Lake has not yet seen a DO increase since it began a series of living shoreline project in 2019. However, water clarity levels were found to have improved and conductivity increased, indicating it has become saltier.

More on CLONet

Slides from these and other presentations delivered at the meeting can be downloaded here.

To learn more about CLONet, including how to volunteer to monitor your community lake, visit the CLONet website or email Community Science Coordinator Erin Conlon at econlon@monmouth.edu. You can also visit the CLONet Data Explorer to view data on lake averages, how individual lakes compare to the full group, and more.

By Barbara Brummer, Ph.D., and Tony MacDonald

As New Jersey’s coastal communities prepare for summer boating and hurricane season, a unique public-private partnership is advancing a smart, sustainable approach to protecting our coast. The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), in coordination with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, academic institutions and nonprofit partners, has launched the Regional Sediment Management Framework (RSMF), a guide to restoring and safeguarding the state’s valuable wetlands and iconic waterfronts.

The RSMF presents solutions to two simultaneous and pressing challenges—maintaining our navigation channels and helping our coastal marshes survive while facing and losing ground to increasing erosion and rising sea levels. It offers a new model for managing sediment as a resource and prioritizing projects that deliver multiple benefits for people, nature and the economy.

New Jersey’s back bays and coastal waterways must be routinely dredged to support the state’s $50 billion maritime economy, which includes marinas, boat ramps and other infrastructure that many coastal communities and visitors rely on. Traditionally, dredged sediment is treated as waste and transported to upland disposal sites while nearby wetlands and marshes are starved of the sediment needed to thrive and function as natural buffers.

The RSMF’s approach keeps sediment in the estuary system whenever possible, spreading it on marshes to nourish the habitat, give grasses a foothold and enhance community protection from flooding and storms. Since 2013, the NJDOT has used more than 1 million cubic yards of dredged material to restore marshes and beaches. RSMF will expand and accelerate the practice across more sites and projects.

June 1 was the beginning of hurricane season in New Jersey, underscoring the importance of strengthening our natural defenses. Restored marshes reduce wave energy and flood risk, offering cost-effective protection for nearby neighborhoods while providing critical habitat for fish and wildlife.

The RSMF is an important first step in scaling up marsh nourishment efforts, but long-term success requires sustained legislative funding so that the NJDOT can perform dredging that ensures safe navigation and restores our salt marshes. This sensible approach builds resilience to sea level rise and increasingly frequent storms for New Jersey’s coastal communities, supports recreational maritime activities and provides needed habitat for fish, birds and other wildlife.

Kudos to the NJDOT for initiating development of the RSMF, and to the NJDEP and others for fully supporting it. The initiative is a successful model for using nature in New Jersey to meet the challenges of maritime recreation, marshland restoration and community resilience. For the program to flourish, now we need advocacy and action to secure sustained and adequate funding resources.

– Dr. Barbara Brummer is the state director of The Nature Conservancy in New Jersey. Tony MacDonald is the director of the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute.