Oregon Sea Grant

Filling the gaps in ocean research and information

Demands for ocean space and pressure on ocean resources are rapidly increasing. New uses, such as marine renewable energy development and marine reserves, have provoked ocean and coastal stakeholders to become more involved in planning and decisions related to allocation of ocean space. The result is a culture of competition - and a critical need for knowledge and understanding about how different uses affect each other, and how they cumulatively affect the ocean. 

Oregon Sea Grant focuses on filling critical gaps in knowledge through interdisciplinary research that seeks to understand the social, economic, and ecological aspects of multiple uses of ocean space. We serve the state and region as a trusted broker, working in partnership with government, industry, and organizations to engage diverse ocean interests in solution-oriented, science based planning for use of ocean space. We build on our record of coastal engagement to help user groups communicate with each other, and help seek innovative, practical solutions for resolving ocean use conflict.

In our role as a key player in the OSU Marine Council, Sea Grant convened a 2011 workshop on The Science of Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning, attracting nearly 70 Oregon scientists, agency representatives and invited speakers, including representatives from the governor's office, NOAA and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. We continue to work with these and other collaborators to address key research questions critical to Oregon and the nation.

Regional planning for ocean science and information

Contact: Jenna Borberg

Oregon Sea Grant spent more than three years working in partnership with Sea Grant programs in Washington, California and Southern California, under a contract with the West Coast Governors' Association and NOAA, to assess the region's needs for marine research and information. The effort included dozens of public meetings, surveys and more than 5,200 stakeholder comments. The culmination of that effort, West Coast Regional Marine Research and Information Needs, is intended to help regional research funders and information providers plan and prioritize, and to spark region-wide research initiatives in natural and social science that could provide a solid foundation for wise policy and management decisions. The Sea Grant programs secured funding to place four graduate fellows with state and federal agencies directly involved in the West Coast Governors Alliance On Ocean Health to help identify critical research areas, and are now collaborating on regional social science projects attempting to address some of the research needs laid out in the plan.

Community engagement for a sustainable future

Contacts: Jeff Feldner, Stephen Brandt

When Oregon's governor asked the state's Ocean Policy Advisory Council in 2006 to consider designating one or more  marine reserves in Oregon's territorial sea, both the council and the governor recognized that the review process had to be perceived as both thorough and fair. The state called on Oregon Sea Grant to help chart Oregon's course through the turbulent waters of public review. Dr. Stephen Brandt, Sea Grant director and chair of OPAC's Technical Advisory Team, led a workshop that established minimum size and space requirements for marine reserves. Jeff Feldner, Extension fisheries specialist, served on the Marine Reserves Leadership Team and helped orchestrate more than 33 coastal public meetings on the subject. Despite initial skepticism, the south coast community of Port Orford ultimately rallied around the concept and one of the state's two pilot marine reserve sites is taking shape off their coast.

Marine renewable energy

Contact: Kaety Hildenbrand, Flaxen Conway

Nearly a decade ago, Oregon Sea Grant provided seed money for early scientific and engineering work by OSU researchers who determined that the motion of the ocean's waves could be harnessed to generate electricity. Today, renewable energy companies from all over the world are hoping to build commercial-scale wave energy projects off the Oregon Coast. Coastal communities, torn between the desire for clean, sustainable energy and an even more compelling desire to protect their livelihoods and the marine environment, want some control over where such offshore energy farms might be built. Sea Grant, with its record of working with diverse coastal interests on complex marine issues, is helping ensure that those with the greatest stake have a say in the permitting and siting process. Read  more ...

Related research

Current projects:

• Realized and Potential Larval Connectivity Along the Oregon Coast (R/HBT-15). Harold Batchelder, OSU CEOAS.

Regional projects:

• Toward Resilience and Sustainable Seafood Supply: Assessing Direct Marketing Approaches for the West Coast Fishing Communities (R/SF-36). Barbara Walker, University of California-Santa Barbara. Oregon Sea Grant co-PIs are  Jamie Doyle and Jeff Feldner.
• Successful Adaptation: Identifying Effective Process and Outcome Characteristics and Practice-Relevant Metrics (R/CNH-23). Pamela Matson, Stanford University. Oregon co-PI: Hannah Gosnell, OSU/CEOA.

2010-2012 projects:

• A community-based framework for identifying, estimating and evaluating ecosystem services associated with Oregon's proposed marine reserves (R/CC-12). Randall S. Rosenberger, Oregon State University College of Forestry.
• Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center: Outreach and engagement. Kaety Hildenbrand, Sea Grant Extension, Lincoln County. (Funding: US Department of Energy; additional funding from the  the Oregon Wave Energy Trust).

Learn more ...

• Sea Grant publications and videos about:
  
  • Marine renewable energy
  • Marine spatial planning
  • Marine reserves
• Lines in the Water, Terra magazine, February 2011