Oregon Sea Grant

Oregon Sea Grant: Celebrating 40 Dynamic Years

When Oregon Sea Grant celebrated its 40th anniversary on Sept. 17, 2011, Governor John Kitzhaber's formal proclamation of the observation reminded Oregonians that "Oregon Sea Grant funds top-quality research with high relevance to society."

That commitment - and an equal one to provide the results of our research to those who can put it to work using and protecting nation's marine resources - has been at the heart of the National Sea Grant College Program since the beginning.

Early involvement in a national vision

Congress created the NOAA Sea Grant program in 1968 in an effort to bring the kind of national attention and resources to ocean and coastal issues that the USDA's Extension Service had brought to rural agricultural communities since the early 20th century. By 1971, funds for the program had been authorized and appropriated, and on Sept. 17, Oregon became one of the nation's first four Sea Grant states, along with Washington, Texas and Rhode Island.

Today Sea Grant programs are found in every coastal state; and Oregon’s is still widely considered one of the very top programs.

Early years

Even before OSU had a formal Sea Grant program, William Q. Wick, a visionary Extension specialist, had been pondering how to apply the Extension model to the challenges facing the Oregon coast. Assigned to OSU's then-brand-new Marine Science Center in Newport, Wick recruited a recent OSU graduate (and former Beavers basketball star), Bob Jacobson, as Lincoln County's first full-time marine agent.

“Bill recognized the potential of establishing some kind of marine program where we would work, not only with the oyster people, but with others up and down the coast who make their living from the sea,” Jacobson recalled in a 2008 oral history interview. “What they told me when they hired me was, ‘You’re going to be an agricultural agent – in hip boots.’”

Changing with the times

Over the decades, Sea Grant has been involved in most of the big issues facing the coast: the rise and fall of fisheries stocks, the drive to create new seafood products - and the challenges posed by a water-intensive processing industry, the changes the economy, resource scarcity and demographic shift have brought to coastal communities.

The program has grown to become a trusted resource for coastal communities, and for state lawmakers and agencies, who’ve called on Sea Grant to help them engage coastal residents on such volatile and timely topics as harvest restrictions, marine reserves and off-shore energy development.

With resident Extension faculty stationed up and down the coast, a core of marine educators and aquarists at the (now Hatfield) Marine Science Center, and capable scientists, communicators and administrators on the OSU campus, Sea Grant has become an important part of the OSU research and public engagement community.

Committed to the future 

Today, as both state and federal governments tighten their belts, Oregon Sea Grant works strategically, engaging with multiple collaborators and funding sources to extend and build on its 40-year history of excellence. The program is guided by a strategic plan designed to adjust with changing regional, national and institutional priorities. New issues - climate change, tsunami preparedness, wave energy - have moved to the forefront, but the program's priorities remain the same.

“Everything we do is intended to help Oregonians understand, conserve, and wisely use ocean and coastal resources,” said Stephen Brandt, Sea Grant director. “That mission has been a constant.”

Learn more

• Gov. John Kitzhaber's 2011 Oregon Sea Grant Day proclamation [printable pdf | plain text]
• Oregon Sea Grant: Historic photos slideshow
• Extension Sets Sail, part of the University Archives online exhibit observing the 100th anniversary of Extension.