This document discusses the evolution of Sea Grant as a national program in the United States over the past 16 years. It outlines how Sea Grant has developed a more integrated national presence through enhanced partnerships across NOAA programs, regional activities, and a strategic planning process that aligns local and state plans with national goals. This evolution aims to tell a stronger national story of Sea Grant's success and impacts.
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The Evolution of Sea Grant as a National Program
1. The Evolution of
Sea Grant as a
National Program
Plenary Session
Dr. Leon M. Cammen
Director, NOAA’s National Sea Grant College Program
3. We are proud of our network
and the way Sea Grant
programs have come
together to assist in the
Gulf of Mexico.
_____________________________
"There are so many databases and resources related to the oil spill that it
is completely overwhelming. I don’t even know where to look (and I’m
dealing with the topic every day), so I can’t even imagine your average
non-scientist trying to find relevant information. For those of you interested
in the RAPID and other Gulf projects going on, a good place to start is at
gulfseagrant.org/oilspill/database. This site also has a good page with
links to information about dispersants, seafood safety, human health, and
research/monitoring updates.“ - Deep Sea News:
4. Sea Grant International
• Welcome to our international visitors
• History of working internationally
• Levels of activity
– Peer exchange
– Capacity building
– Institutional development
5. A National Vision for Sea Grant
The whole is
greater than
the sum of
its parts
6. National Vision
• “One Sea Grant”
• True university/federal partnership
• Local regional and national priorities
• Local and regional implementation
• Strong impacts at all levels
• National stories, measures and
metrics that can used to garner
support for Sea Grant
10. From Themes to
Strategic Focus Areas
• 11 themes, teams developed ideas/plans
for programmatic growth
– Themes developed after the fact
– Teams concentrated on planning
• 4 focus areas, teams develop national
stories, programmatic initiatives
– Focus areas developed as part of strategic
planning
– Teams support Network by following progress
during implementation, identifying gaps,
proposing solutions
11. Focus Team Roles and
Responsibilities
• Facilitate planning, implementation, synthesizing
and reporting of SG activities and accomplishments
– Reviewing annual reports and synthesizing results to tell
the national story
– Assessing progress in achieving goals and objectives
and recommend mid-course corrections
– Example: 1) Social Science Research not being
accomplished, 2) Emerging success story on Sea Grant
accomplishments in wind power siting
12. Focus Team Roles and
Responsibilities
• Identify new opportunities and directions
for Sea Grant national and regional
initiatives
– Examples: 1) Proposing a new national
investment in the application of climate
sciences, 2) Developing a position paper on
Sea Grant opportunities in offshore energy
development
13. Focus Team Roles and
Responsibilities
• Catalyze cooperative efforts among SG
and our partners
– Examples: 1) Developing and implementing a
partnership strategy with FEMA on community
resiliency, 2) Identifying an opportunity for a
leveraged RFP with the USACE that
addresses wetlands restoration issues.
14. Focus Team Roles and
Responsibilities
• Provide a mechanism to further solidify
Sea Grant’s local, regional and national
identity
– Examples: 1) Organizing and/or sponsoring
or co-sponsoring national level conferences,
symposia and other educational initiatives;
2) Developing a national media event to
showcase Sea Grant contributions and
success on a topic of interest.
15. Telling a National Story
• National Performance Measures &
Metrics
• Impacts
• National stories
– Uses: NOAA leadership, DOC, OMB,
Congress, State of Sea Grant Report
(biennial report to the Congress),
media (news releases, press events),
NOAA, Climate Portal, web and
program use & more
• Critical step for positioning
program as a national player
16. Performance Measures and
Metrics = National Success Stories
Annual Reporting Year (2/1/09 – 1/31/10)
Sea Grant helped create or retain over
3,500 jobs and 650 businesses
17. Performance Measures and
Metrics = National Success Stories
Fishers, consumers and seafood
industry stakeholders modified their
practices using knowledge gained in
fisheries sustainability, seafood safety,
and the health benefits of seafood
– Number of stakeholders modifying
practices = 27,748 (2009 actual)
– Number of fishers using new
techniques = 366,687 (2009 actual)
(SSSS focus area)
18. Performance Measures and
Metrics = National Success Stories
435 (2009 actual) coastal communities adopted
or implemented sustainable (economic and
environmental) development practices and
policies (e.g., land use planning, working‐
waterfronts, energy efficiency, climate change
planning, smart growth measures, green
infrastructure) as a result of Sea Grant activities
(SCD focus area)
19. Performance Measures and
Metrics = National Success Stories
186 (2009 actual) coastal communities
restored degraded ecosystems as a
result of Sea Grant activities (nearly
32,000 acres)
(HCE focus area)
20. Performance Measures and
Metrics = National Success Stories
160 (2009 actual) coastal
communities adopted or
implemented hazard resiliency
practices to prepare for and
respond to/minimize coastal
hazardous events
(HRCC focus area)
21. Performance Measures and
Metrics = National Success Stories
1,560 resource
managers used
ecosystem based‐
approaches in the
management of land,
water, and living
resources in ocean,
coastal and Great
Lakes areas as a result
of Sea Grant activities
22. Performance Measures and
Metrics = National Success Stories
Sea Grant supported
nearly 1,700
undergraduate and
graduate students to
develop a diverse,
highly qualified
workforce
23. Performance Measures and
Metrics = National Success Stories
Educators reached
380,875 K 12‐
students & 406
curricula were
developed
25. Performance Measures and
Metrics = National Success Stories
• Sea Grant staff gave 4,283
public or professional
presentations reaching 517,616
attendees
• Certified 563 Clean Marinas
• Certified 2,955 people in HACCP
• Logged 167,477 volunteer hours
26. Vision: Sea Grant uses
highly-effective, local programs
to create a strong national presence
with recognized success!
27. So …
How long before we
can see this
national strategy is
working?
32. Sea Grant uses highly effective local programs
to create a strong, integrated national
presence with recognized success!
33. Partnerships: Coastal
Integration
Integrating NOAA’s Coastal Programs
• OMB initiative
• Sea Grant, Coastal Zone Management,
Coastal Services Center, National Centers
for Coastal Ocean Science
• Collaboration & coordination
34. Partnerships: National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS)
Enhancing collaboration with NMFS
• NMFS liaison
• Sea Grant / NMFS Fellowships
• Fisheries extension
• Joint workshops
35. Partnerships: Office of Oceanic
and Atmospheric Research
(OAR)
Extension agents in NOAA laboratories
• Great Lakes Environmental Research
Lab (GLERL)
• Atlantic Oceanographic and
Meteorological Lab (AOML)
• National Severe Storms Lab (NSSL)
36. Regional Activities
• Regional plans
• Regional Competitions
– Aquatic Invasive Species
– Aquaculture
– Regional Climate Mini-Grants
• Aligned with National Ocean Policy,
NOAA
• $ to NOAA regions for joint activities
38. Evolution of National Sea Grant
Planning and Evaluation
• 16-year history
• 1994 NRC review
– Program assessment system
– Program strategic plans required
• 2006 NRC review
– Focused national plan and aligned state plans
– Enhanced role of NOAA Program Officers
• 2008 Planning, Implementation and
Evaluation System adopted
Editor's Notes
The process for developing the national performance measures began with the first focus team meeting the summer of 2008, where the teams developed a first draft of performance measures and outcomes. Drafts of the performance measures and outcomes were commented on by the network before finalizing the measures in the National Implementation Plan in February 2009. Programs then aligned their planning documents with the national strategic and implementation plans in the Fall 2009. Once all of the planning documents were reviewed by the review committee and then approved by the NSGCP Director, the NSGO went through every plan and looked at every program's performance measures and objectives to come up with a set of national performance measures that; (1) represented the network and (2) told a good national story. At the same time, the NSGO went through the metrics and decided to reduce the number of items programs were reporting on, making it easier for the programs. Before finalizing on a set of national performance measures and metrics, the NSGO sent a set of metrics and performance measures out to the network for comments in June 2010. Once network feedback was received, the NSGO made modifications to the performance measures/metrics and asked that the programs please use these for their annual reporting. The above processes are new to Sea Grant and the purpose of this survey is to evaluate the annual reporting system that has been developed to date. We appreciate your time and effort as you answer the following questions.