Oregon Sea Grant

Helping coastal communities face the challenges of change

Since our inception, Oregon Sea Grant has worked closely with coastal communities to help them define, discuss and address issues and problems affecting their lives, their livelihoods and their surroundings. Over time, we have responded not only to emerging ocean and coastal issues, but to advances in the science of learning, grounding our community work in research into how individuals and groups interact, learn and reach decisions.

Much of that work has involved helping communities adapt to change. Early on, much of our effort was focused on helping Oregon fishermen work better, smarter and safer. With the emergence of the Northwest salmon crisis in the 1990s, we worked to address the needs of fishing families and communities struggling to cope with economic losses brought on by changing fisheries. And as a new century brought even more complex challenges, our attention turned to bringing coastal communities, marine scientists and resource managers and users together to work cooperatively on critical issues fascing the ocean and coastal economy and environment, from climate change to new competition for finite ocean space and resources.

We conduct and support research that  seeks to identify and understand the links between learning and behavior change, and use the results of our investigations to create easily adaptable strategies that organizations and communities can use to more effectively link learning to decision making and behavior change.

Training the next generation of scientists

Oregon Sea Grant recognizes the importance of training the next generation of marine scientists and resource managers to address the health, safety, and sustainability of our ocean and coastal ecosystems. We believe it's important and perhaps critical for students and recent graduates to learn how their scientific knowledge and skills apply to real-world issues. Through our Sea Grant Scholars internship and fellowship programs, we have invested nearly $2 million since 2006 in the professional development of more than 200 young ocean science and policy professionals. Read more ...

Coastal community profiles

A colloaborative project that grew out of community discussions in Port Orford, the goal was to  supplement NOAA Fisheries' "short-form" community profiles, which community members felt inadequately described the impact of commercial fishing on the broader community. The resulting profiles of three communities contain a depth of information not often available, allowing fisheries managers, decision makers, fishing community members, and the public to better understand the communities  and the potential impacts of ocean-related policies on their respective fishing communities. Read more ...

Fishermen and scientists working together

As recently as a decade ago, many Oregon fishermen viewed scientists with mistrust. Sea Grant's work with both groups helped bring them together for the Scientist and Fisherman Exchange, a forum for both groups to exchange information and build relationships and trust. That ongoing effort has paid off for both groups in collaborative research projects, better data for fisheries managers and income for struggling fishers. Read more ...

Free-choice learning

Free-choice learning is all about deciding what, where, and how we want to learn over the course of our lifetimes. It's the learning that takes place all the time, outside of the classroom, no matter how young or old we are. Oregon Sea Grant is a recognized leader in the art and science of free-choice learning; we are working under a five-year, $2.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation to support the creation of a new free-choice learning lab at the HMSC Visitor Center in Newport. Read more ...

Educating and training aquarium professionals

Ornamental fish are big business, and in multiple surveys, the industry has decried the lack of adequately trained animal husbandry professionals for fish breeders, dealers, importers, public aquaria and other operations that deal with these animals. Oregon Sea Grant's Aquatic Animal Health program has partnered with Oregon Coast Community Colleage to develop a professional technical program in aquarium science. Since its launch 2003, 53 students have graduated, and 98% of them found work in the industry within six months after graduating. In fall 2011, the program opened a stand-alone, state-of-the-art aquarium science teaching facility on the OCCC campus. Read more about our Aquatic Animal Health Program...

Related Research

Current projects:

• Free-Choice Learning: Developing a Cyberlaboratory. Shawn Rowe, Marine Education Learning Specialist. (Funding: National Science Foundation).
• Sea Grant Professorship in Free-Choice Learning (E/UEd-03). John Falk NS Lynn Dierking, Oregon State University Science and Math Education.

Learn more ...

• Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning - Addressing competing uses for scarce marine resources
• Publications
  • Public Science Communication Research and Practice - a series of short publications on science communication, group behavior and decision making:
    
    • Mental Models Interviewing
    • Public Outreach and Behavior Change
    • Hold that Thought!
    • Expand Your View
    • Structured Decision Making
  • Working Together - a series of short publications aimed at helping groups and communities work together more effectively:
    
    • Choosing Your Group’s Structure, Mission, and Goals
    • Effective Meetings Management
    • Good Decision Making
    • Effective Communication
    • Successful Partnerships
    • Dealing with Stumbling Blocks