ms-al sea grant: research and outreach to address coastal issues ladon swann, director noaa’s...
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MS-AL Sea Grant: Research and Outreach to Address Coastal Issues
LaDon Swann, Director NOAA’s Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium and
Auburn University Marine Center
Sea Grant Organizational Structures
• 32 Sea Grant Programs in 30 states– 28 single institution hosts– 2 states with multiple programs
• MIT and WHOI• CA and USC
– 2 bi-state programs• MASGC• IL-IN
– 3 Consortia• MASGC• NJ• SC, consortium within a state agency
Sea Grant Focus Areas
• Safe and Sustainable Seafood Supply
• Hazard Resilient Coastal Communities
• Sustainable Coastal Development
• Healthy Coastal Ecosystems
Sea Grant Strengths
• Local knowledge of environment, geography, society, culture, and government
• Conduit between 300 universities and 3,000 faculty to the public
• 300 outreach experts, including extension specialists, science communicators, educators and attorneys
MASGC ranked 2nd in terms of total NOAA funding with $5.05 million.
Most of the additional NOAA money funds regional SLR, ESV and CSP research.
University Research Underpins our Strong Engagement Programs
• Research support: $3.3 million for FY 2012-2013• MASGC will support $977,000• Regional Sea Grant Programs and NOAA will support
– $1.56 million for ecosystem services valuation– $500,000 for coastal storms partnerships between communities
and university scientists– $540,000 to support development of tools for communities to
use to plan for and adapt to projected sea-level rise
• Does not include state research supported by FL, LA and TX Sea Grant
Hazard Resilient Coastal Communities
• Community Resilience Index for communities to use to conduct a self-assessment of their resilience to coastal storms.
• The index has 42 indicators of resilience organized around six categories. – Critical infrastructure– Transportation– Mitigation Measures– Community Planning– Business Planning– Social Networks
Hazard Resilient Coastal Communities
A Community of Practice is a group of professionals who aim to achieve common outcomes. By working together, they can learn from one another and develop a set of effective common approaches that can be refined over time.
The Future of MASGC
• Challenges– Sea Grant’s brand• Constituents do not identify programs with Sea Grant• We can fix this through more targeted communications
• Federal budget– The House CJS would cut Sea Grant by 33%
The Future of MASGC
• Opportunities– Numerous references to Sea Grant programs• Gulf of Mexico Alliance Action Plan• Oil spill recovery plans Mississippi and Alabama• Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force• NOAA Marine Aquaculture
– Sea Grant’s budget is $20 million below our authorized level• Offers a way of supporting more university-based
research through authorized appropriations.
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