SGA DOCUMENTS
Transition 2001:
"science serving america's coasts"

    • articles of incorporation
    • sga bylaws
    • science serving america's coasts
    • a vision for success
    • sga awards
    • theme-centered research
    • funding principles
    • position papers

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January 2001

Sea Grant Gets Results

Sea Grant has an outstanding record of accomplishment in those economic and environmental issues most important to coastal residents. For example, Sea Grant has led the development of an environmentally sound aquaculture industry that is already providing major economic benefit to coastal communities and the Nation as a whole. Sea Grant research on hurricane damage to coastal communities showed how to better protect coastal residences and the results have been remarkable, with virtually all new homes surviving a recent hurricane in the face of widespread destruction of older homes. Sea Grant efforts have developed fishing gear that enabled fishermen to operate effectively while protecting non-target species from inadvertent harm, thus saving jobs and preventing a substantial economic loss to coastal communities. The first systematic research effort in the United States to develop new drugs from marine organisms has been led by Sea Grant, and over 1000 new compounds are now in the pipeline with potential to be new anticancer drugs and antibiotics. When FDA regulations were imposed on the seafood industry, Sea Grant was there to provide the needed education and training to over 5,000 U.S. processing plants, resulting in 20,000 to 60,000 fewer seafood-related illnesses a year and a saving of as much as $115 million annually. Comprehensive Sea Grant research on the environmental impacts of sewage effluents in southern California led to substantial cost-savings by showing that additional treatment facilities were not necessary to protect public health. Other examples are included in the Appendix at the end of this document. Truly, the payoff from investment in Sea Grant research and outreach has been outstanding and promises to remain so.

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