As recently noted on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Web site, Sea Grant has worked for five decades to create and maintain a healthy coastal environment and economy, and to help citizens understand, conserve and better utilize America’s coastal, ocean and Great Lakes resources.


WASHINGTON, DC, Thursday, March 17, 2016 - In 2016, Sea Grant celebrates 50 years of using research, outreach, and education to positively impact coastal communities. Why is this important? Our federal-state partnership programs turn science into action in over 33 U.S. states and territories, which helps to ensure that our coastal communities remain engines of economic growth in a rapidly changing world.

Our nation’s economic health is inextricably linked to the stability and prosperity of our coastal communities. This is the what drives Sea Grant's work, which encompasses diverse issues relevant to local, regional, and national priorities, such as healthy coastal ecosystems, resilient communities and economies, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, and environmental literacy and workforce development.

By drawing on the experience of more than 3,000 scientists, engineers, public outreach experts, educators and students from more than 300 institutions, Sea Grant is able to make an impact at local and state levels, and serve as a powerful national force for change.

Few public programs have as long and as successful a story as Sea Grant. The 50th anniversary marks a major milestone for Sea Grant, whose unique model of answering the needs of coastal communities with scientific research and locally stationed extension agents uses the best available science to foster sustainable coastal economies and environment.  

Last year, Sea Grant had an economic impact of $375 million, a 420% return on a federal investment of $67 million. On average, Sea Grant contributes to creating or retaining 9,300 coastal jobs and 2,825 businesses a year.

For more on Sea Grant's nationwide impacts, check out our fact sheet, "#SeaGrant50: A Smart Investment in our Coastal Economy." (pdf)

For more on Sea Grant's impacts in New York, see www.nyseagrant.org/whatisnysg and our "What is NYSG?" fact sheet (pdf).

And for some statistics on Sea Grant through the years, there's our info-graphic-laden "By The Numbers" section at the end of this blog post.

More information on the 50th anniversary campaign via the National Sea Grant College Program (NSGCP), which includes a "50th Stories" sub-page. The NSGCP will gather and share related content from the individual 33 Sea Grant programs on social media via its social media channels using the hashtag #SeaGrant50:

• Facebook
  
  
• Twitter

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On www.nyseagrant.org ...

• Our "Trending Topics," such as climate change and green tips for coastal living, via a section on our homepage, www.nyseagrant.org.
  
  
• For the latest news from NYSG, check out our 'Currents' section, www.nyseagrant.org/currents, as well as our 'by-topic' archives, www.nyseagrant.org/currentsarchive.
  
  
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Sea Grant "By The Numbers" ...