Leon Cammen, director, National Sea Grant College Program. Sea Grant Week 2010

1. The Evolution of
Sea Grant as a
National Program
Plenary Session
Dr. Leon M. Cammen
Director, NOAA’s National Sea Grant College Program

2. Thank You

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

7. 32 local
programs
flying together
as a true
national
Program

8. Planning, Implementation and
Evaluation

9. The Natural Order…
Themes
STRATEGIC
FOCUS AREAS!
Ad hoc White
Papers

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

24. Performance Measures and
Metrics = National Success Stories
Sea Grant published 212 Peer-Reviewed
Journal Articles

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?

28. Thank You

30. National Vision
The total is
greater than
the sum of
its parts

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

37. A 16-Year Evolution
1994 NRC report!
Program
Assessments!
2006 NRC report
(PIE)!

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