Oregon Sea Grant
Oregon Sea Grant’s mission is to develop and support an integrated program of research, outreach, and education that help people understand, rationally use, and conserve marine and coastal resources. Our activities respond to the needs of ocean users and act to stimulate the Oregon economy.
Funding for Sea Grant comes from federal and state appropriations as well as contributions from local governments and industry. The major support is a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Program activities are conducted in several interdependent and critical topical areas including healthy coastal ecosystems, sustainable coastal development, safe and sustainable seafood supply, hazard resilient coastal communities, and marine education.
Oregon Sea Grant’s very competitive grants program is the preeminent marine research enterprise funding research in academic institutions throughout Oregon. This research addresses issues of high importance and societal relevance, and places priority on prediction (rather than explanation) and meaningful collaboration with industry, agencies, communities, and other stakeholders.
The program provides professional, technical, and public education, as well as Extension services through the Sea Grant Extension program. In addition, Sea Grant supports undergraduate and graduate students as Sea Grant Scholars to study important marine and coastal problems.
Everything the program does, finally, is driven by an ethic of public service, and the program uses various approaches to engage our constituents. The users of Oregon’s marine resources are key contributors to the program. An advisory council of marine industry and coastal community leaders provides external review of program emphasis and continued progress. Oregon Sea Grant Communications works collaboratively with program Extension faculty and educators to engage, inform, and assist a range of stakeholders, such as K–12 teachers and students, community and industry groups, and state resource managers, by developing and providing research-based information. Communications deploys a wide range of media tools, including, as appropriate, print, digital, and electronic media. The communications specialists cooperate with other information offices at Oregon State University and with colleagues in the national Sea Grant network.
Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary in operation, the program involves faculty and students in several Oregon institutions of higher education. Recent participants in the program also include the University of Oregon, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland State University, and Eastern Oregon University. In addition, Oregon Sea Grant maintains close relationships with several research facilities on the Oregon coast: the OSU Seafood Laboratory in Astoria, the OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, and the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in Charleston. Sea Grant manages the Visitor Center of the Hatfield Marine Science Center as a public science learning facility and learning laboratory
