Ocean & Coastal Topics
Ongoing changes and challenges continue to confront communities, managers, and natural resources along the coastline of Oregon, the region, and the marine world beyond.
Sea Grant provides competitive, peer-reviewed grants that allow top ocean and coastal researchers to apply their skills to these challenges. Urgent issues, such as the crisis in the Pacific Northwest groundfish fisheries and the increasing threat posed by aquatic invasive species, help drive Sea Grant’s research priorities.
The results of that research, in turn, are extended to the public - industry, government agencies, and the public at large - through a robust outreach and education program involving marine Extension, communicators, and collaborators near and far.
With a growing need for reliable, science based information about ocean and coastal issues, we use our limited resources with care. We also seek to find a balance between systematic decision making and well-reasoned risks.
In 2006-2008, we are supporting research and outreach in the following areas.
Economic Leadership
Aquaculture
Environmental and political barriers have kept Oregon from developing much of an aquaculture industry. But Oregon Sea Grant still sees room to address specific aspects of this National Sea Grant priority topic, including:
- Research to deepen our understanding of the diseases and pathogens of fish and shelfish (and environmentally benign methods of controlling them)
- Contributing to environmentally sound and sustainable use of ornamental fish and other marine species as a hobby, a global industry and an educational tool
- Contributing toward a more viable, sustainable oyster industry in the Pacific Northwest.
Research | Outreach | Accomplishments
Biotechnology
Marine biotechnology is one of our program strengths; since the 1980s Oregon Sea Grant has invested in significant research into such topics as the discovery and development of potential medicines from marine algae, and efforts to discover new genetic therapies to prevent and cure diseases in fish. Because biotechnology is a costly, long-term field, we limit our support to projects with specific objectives that can show sustained progress toward their goals, and emphasize how the research might be connected to potential users. Our goals are to support biotechnology that helps develop new tools for:
- Extracting, testing, and applying useful natural products from marine organisms.
- Monitoring and solving environmental problems
- Solving some of the persistent problems of aquaculture, including those related to breeding, feed and disease.
Research | Outreach | Accomplishments
Fisheries/Seafood Technology
Sea Grant supports research on innovative approaches to fishery management and on outreach that improves communications among fishermen, regulatory agencies and the public at large, and that helps fishing communities learn new ways to sustain their livelihoods in a time of resource decline. Among our research and outreach goals:
- To improve the models on which fishery managers base their decisions.
- To improve communications and decrease fragmentation within the fishing community, particularly between gear types, and to support the fishing community through periods of economic and social upheaval.
- To improve communications and understanding among coastal communities, the recreational and commercial fishing industries, and academic and agency scientists.
- To identify innovative and effective approaches to fishery management and help industry leaders and managers understand he benefits and limitations of such approaches.
- To develop new and higher-valued seafood products.
- To promote increased efficiency in seafood processing and to ensure improved seafood safety through the development of new technology and effective outreach to the industry and consumers.
Research | Outreach | Accomplishments
Coastal Ecosystem Health and Public Safety
Ecosystems & Habitats
For nearly a decade, Sea Grant has placed increasing emphasis on essential fish habitat, ecosystem restoration, and control of aquatic nuisance species. ince 1998 our interest in coastal ecosystems largely has revolved around essential fish habitat, ecosystem restoration, and aquatic nuisance species. Today, agencies throughout the Pacific Northwest are investing millionds of dollars annual in watershed research and restoration; Sea Grant has chosen to focus its more modest resources on the under-studied estuaries and their restoration, while outreach continues to address broader watershed restoration and invasive species goals:
- To enhance public understanding of issues surrounding aquatic nuisance species and the role citizens can play in preventing their spread.
- To educate decision makers and the public about the importance of coastal watersheds and effective approaches to their restoration.
Research | Outreach | Accomplishments
Related activities:
- Pathways
to Resilience: Sustaining Pacific Salmon in a Changing World (2007
conference and followup)
Coastal Hazards
Over the years, Oregon Sea Grant research and outreach has addressed such issues as earthquakes, subsidance, erosion, and tsunami inundation. That work has led to better understanding of the past and potential future impacts these processes, and to a greater public awareness of the issues.
The recent expansion of OSU's Hinsdale Wave Laboratory, now the largest facility of its kind in the world, has drawn new expertise and ideas to the Corvallis campus, and Sea Grant has shifted emphasis accordingly:
- To support research that leads to improvements in our ability to understand and model coastal waves and their effects, both good and ill.
- To support research that enhances our ability to predict and prepare for tsunami inundation and other seismic events on the Oregon coast.
- To expand the use of existing and new coastal hazard information in regional as well as local coastal and community plans and to safeguard human life and coastal and port facilities.
Research | Outreach | Accomplishments
Education & Human Resources
Marine Science Literacy
In a sense, everything we do is about increasing marine science literacy, whether it's by supporting science that leads to a deeper understanding of the ocean and coastal world, reaching out to coastal residents, businesses, and visitors, or producing and distributing countless books, videos, brochures and posters that help people make sense of the sea.
At the same time, we conduct formal and informal programs in marine education - for children and their teachers, for the broad general public, for special audiences - mostly through our living laboratory at OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. And we study how people learn, as well, particularly outside conventional academic settings, through our pioneering program in Free-Choice Learning.
Research | Outreach | Accomplishments
Special projects and collaborations
Among Sea Grant's strengths is its ability to respond quickly and in depth to emerging issues related to our marine research and outreach mission. A large group of Sea Grant Extension faculty with a wide range of interests and expertise gives us the flexibility to step in and take leadership when the occasion demands. For instance:
- Marine invaders - Extension specialist Sam Chan is part of an international network of scientists and outreach specialists working to educate people, businesses and governments about the need to identify, limit and mitigate the effects of non-native plants and animals that can destroy local habitats and outcompete native organisms.
- Ornamental fish health - Veterinarian Tim Miller-Morgan, Sea Grant's "fish doctor," is known internationally for his work with breeders, importers and aquarium owners on the health and husbandry of ornamental fish such as koi.
Oregon Sea Grant regularly collaborates with other Sea Grant programs across the country, and with outside organizations, on projects of significance to the region and the nation. Current special projects include:
- Marine Reserves Outreach - Sea Grant Extension was asked by the state's Ocean Policy Advisory Council to quickly develop and conduct public outreach and engagement activities that would help the state make more informed decisions about the controversial question of establishing no-take reserves off the near-shore Oregon coast.
- Climate Variability and Coastal Community Resilience: Testing a National Model of State-Based Outreach - Oregon Sea Grant joins its sister program in Maine to develop and test methods of involving and informing coastal communities and their leaders in issues related to climate change.
- West Coast Regional Research and Information Planning - Sea Grant programs in Washington, Oregon, and California are collaborating on a first-of-its-kind effort to assess the long-term marine research and information needs of the entire West Coast of the United States.
- Pathways to Resilience: Sustaining Pacific Salmon in a Changing World - Followup to a 2007 interdisciplinary conference on the concept of resilience and its application to ecosystem management in general and salmon recovery in particular.
Additional topics
Beyond our biennial research program, Sea Grant has a broader interest in ocean and coastal outreach and education. To learn more about what we're doing in those areas, visit:
Sea Grant Extension theme teams:
Sea Grant Communications:
- Publications and videos on a wide range of ocean and coastal topics
- Special projects
Education: