Law Center
The Sea Grant Law Center was founded to disseminate
information about marine laws and policies, coordinate
ocean and coastal law researchers, and provide the
Sea Grant College Program and its constituents a source
of critical analysis of marine laws and policies.
One of its primary focuses is contributing to the
legal analysis by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy
of the laws that affect the Nation's oceans and coasts
(as mandated by Congress in the Oceans Act of 2000).
Other research includes fisheries law, marine habitat
conservation, non-indigenous species and current issues
in wetlands law and policy. To learn more, visit the
center’s website at: http://www.olemiss.edu/orgs/SGLC/
Ports & Harbors
Sea Grant has two ports and harbors specialists through
Texas A&M University and the University of Southern
California, who serve as focal coordinating points
for expanding Sea Grant College Program activities
on state and national ports and harbors, and related
marine transportation issues. These new positions
will lead overall efforts in ports and harbors issues,
coordinate with individuals within the Sea Grant network
on specific matters, and promote the growth and development
of Sea Grant leadership in ports and harbors issues
at the national level. Read
more about ports and harbors.
Earth Grant
Because of common goals related to improved environmental
decision-making, the National Sea Grant Office has
initiated discussions with senior administrators from
NASA’s Space Grant and USDA’s Cooperative
State Research Education and Extension Service. The
partnership, dubbed “Earth Grant,” has
led to a cooperative funding arrangement to establish
a geospatial extension specialist position located
at the University of Connecticut. The specialist provides
NASA geospatial information to the national network
of Sea Grant coastal community development specialists.
Sea Grant International
President Bush’s US Ocean Action Plan states,
“In response to direct requests from interested
foreign governments and universities, the Administration
will conduct a donors conference in Latin America,
hold a workshop in Southeast Asia, and develop a technical
assistance plan in North Africa in order to help introduce
and adapt the successful U.S. Sea Grant system of
applied research, extension, and education to countries
in these regions. Sea Grant will help create a global
network of institutions dedicated to applying the
knowledge and technologies that lead to sustainable
forms of coastal and marine resource development and
conservation.”
The National Sea Grant College Program, in partnership
with NOAA Research’s International Activities
(IA) Offices and the University of Rhode Island’s
Coastal Resources Center (CRC), is working to foster
global capacity for sustainable resource use and social
development in marine and coastal environments worldwide
by adapting the Sea Grant model of applied research,
extension and education to international contexts.
For more information regarding Sea Grant International,
please visit http://www.oarhq.noaa.gov/ia/Programs/sea_grant/seagrant.htm
Coastal Community Development
(CCD) Program
This new Sea Grant program element focuses on the
critical importance of community planning and growth
management in coastal areas. The initiative will provide
services to coastal communities to aid in efforts
to protect their environmental amenities, strengthen
their economies and improve their quality of life.
The goal of the Community Development Program investment
is to realize a significant step-up in Sea Grant’s
engagement at the coastal community decision-making
level (municipalities, counties, state agencies, watershed
management districts, etc.) by providing the enhanced
science-based support needed to balance environmental,
social and economic considerations.
Smart Growth
Over the past several months, under the auspices of
the NOAA Sea Grant Coastal Communities and Economies
Theme Team, representatives from NOAA, the National
Sea Grant Office (NSGO) and the Sea Grant network
have met with managers and staff at EPA’s Office’s
of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds and Policy, Economics
and Innovation to discuss mutual interests in coastal
community development. EPA is interested in developing
relationships with Sea Grant extension specialists
associated with the coastal community development
(CCD) program for the purpose of enhancing education
and training opportunities to local decisionmakers.
Significant partnership opportunities are available
by coupling EPA’s national smart growth expertise
and resources with Sea Grant’s locally based
extension and education infrastructure. To initiate
the partnership, EPA is making available an in-depth
training opportunity to be held November 3-7, 2003
in Washington, DC. The workshop will provide basic
smart growth information, educate Sea Grant CCD specialists
on smart growth project planning, and assist participants
in drafting a work plan that directly seeks to implement
some aspect of smart growth in their community. EPA
will provide a small amount of seed funding for each
Sea Grant program to implement the work plans generated
at the training session. To learn more about Smart
Growth, visit EPA’s website at: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/
Centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence (COSEE)
Centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence: NOAA
Sea Grant has been at the nexus of a major initiative
in marine education in cooperation with the National
Science Foundation (NSF). This initiative, called
the Centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence
(COSEE), seeks to increase and enhance collaboration
and communications among ocean scientists, educators
and the general public. Working with NSF and other
NOAA programs, the National Sea Grant Office has played
an integral role in conceptualizing and realizing
the COSEE vision and is a partner with CORE on the
central coordinating office. The seven COSEE centers
around the U.S. (five of which are partnered with
Sea Grant programs) are working to facilitate the
integration of research into high quality educational
activities, programs and materials in order to engage
students and their teachers, and develop their interest
into a mature understanding of the relevance of the
oceans to their lives.
Bilateral Aquaculture Agreements
NOAA Research has provided funding for Sea Grant’s
participation in International Bilateral Agreements
with Japan, China and Korea for 2003. Jim McVey, the
National Sea Grant Office’s aquaculture program
manager, is the chairperson for all three bilaterals
and will be working with the state Sea Grant Directors
to participate in these important interactions with
each of the three countries.
Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO)
NEMO was developed as a collaborative effort between
Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. NEMO is an effort
to help local officials use technology such as GIS
and statistical analyses to link land use and water
quality in planning decisions. Several NOAA programs
have shown increasing interest in utilizing the NEMO
network (a confederation of 27 programs in 26 states
that educate local land use decision makers about
the links between land use and natural resource protection)
to achieve NOAA coastal environmental health goals.
Staff representing these programs in NOAA’s
National Ocean Service (NOS) and NOAA Research have
met to coordinate existing and plan new activities
related to NEMO. Through our Extension Program, Sea
Gant supports NEMO activities in approximately half
of all coastal states. In addition, numerous Sea Grant
research projects provide the science that forms the
basis for building science-based extension education
programs. Sea Grant investments in water quality and
watershed management programs have grown significantly
in recent years. Recently, Sea Grant initiated the
$1.5 million per year coastal community development
(CCD) program in order to enhance NEMO-like activities
in all 30 Sea Grant programs. In partnership with
NASA, Sea Grant has also agreed to fund a full time
technical specialist to be located at NEMO offices
at the University of Connecticut for the purpose of
providing NASA geospatial information to NEMO and
CCD extension specialists. To learn more about NEMO,
visit: http://nemo.uconn.edu/
Rip Currents
Task Force
In a new multi-agency collaboration, NOAA’s
National Sea Grant College Program and the National
Weather Service (NWS), along with the U.S. Lifesaving
Association (USLA) have partnered to leverage the
expertise and resources of each organization to address
the dangers of rip currents. The task force has developed
a unified and consistent public education message
and campaign, and is working to increase the dialogue
among local beach patrols, coastal NWS forecast offices
and Sea Grant Universities. The task force has developed
a national rip current brochure, a public service
announcement and an outdoor sign in English and Spanish.
These materials, and additional information about
rip currents can be found at: http://ripcurrents.noaa.gov
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