The Assembly has presented the following awards for services by members of the Sea Grant Extension network across the country:

William Q. Wick Award for Visionary Career Leadership through Programming/Administration

Superior Outreach Programming Award (SOPA)

  • Award Description - 
  • PDF icon 2018_sopa_request_for_nominations.pdf
  • 2024 Award Winners:

    1. Team Track: Florida Sea Grant - Florida Friendly Fishing Certification Programs: Preserving Florida’s Fishing Future

      1. The Florida Friendly Fishing Guide (FFFG) Program was created in 2019 to provide a certification for charter and for-hire fishing guides interested in improving practices or making their business more environmentally sustainable. The Florida Friendly Angler (FFA) Program was launched in 2022, with a Spanish language version of the FFA program released in 2024. These programs teach science-based practices for proper fish handling and release, food safety, sustainable boating, and other topics - practices that guides can teach their clients to apply. 

    2. Individual Track: New Hampshire Sea Grant - New Hampshire Green Crab Project 

      1. Due fishermen communicating difficulty in dealing with increased populations of invasive green crabs, New Hampshire Sea Grant began a multifaceted approach to studying green crabs, educating the public, and engaging industry members – all with the intention of providing alternative revenue streams for the industry, bringing a novel seafood product to market, and contributing to the restoration of ecosystems by removing an invasive species from crucial habitats.

    3. 2024 Team Track finalists:

      1. Pacific Region - Guam Sea Grant: Guam Green Growth Conservation Corps: Leading Outreach and Sustainability Efforts in Guam and the Region

        1. This program was created in response to rising unemployment following the COVID-19 pandemic to build a skilled workforce and prepare community members for the growing green economy. Each year a five-month workforce development program is conducted. Participants receive lessons and participate in hands-on activities in agriculture and aquaculture, circular economy and zero-waste, ocean conservation, invasive species management, energy conservation and renewable energy, watershed restoration and reforestation, and island beautification. 

      2. Great Lakes Region - Michigan Sea Grant: MI Fresh Fish Project

        1. This marketing and fisheries consumer education campaign was developed collaboratively with the Michigan Fish Producers Association, Michigan Aquaculture Association, Michigan Sea Grant, and Monte Consulting to uplift and increase awareness about fish raised, caught, or processed by local Michigan businesses. 

      3. South Atlantic Region - South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium: From Seeds to Shoreline

        1. This program uses the cultivation of Spartina Alterniflora as a focal point for learning about salt marsh ecosystem benefits, including flood mitigation, water filtration, carbon sequestration, high productivity/nutrient cycling, and nursery ground for juvenile marine species. Students and teachers actively participate in Spartina cultivation and restoration over the course of the academic school year. 

      4. Northeast Region - Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, MIT, and WHOI Sea Grants: Leadership for Offshore Wind Energy Coalesces Capacity Across the Sea Grant National Network

        1. This program focuses on building the capacity of Sea Grant practitioners so they can competently and confidently address the OWE concerns of constituents in their home states, as well as informing OWE science and policy across the Sea Grant network. 

    4. 2024 Individual Track finalists:

      1. South Atlantic Region - Georgia Sea Grant: Coastal Awareness and Responsible Ecotourism (CARE) Certification Program

        1. ​​​​​​​The objectives of this program are to increase buy-in for ecotour providers, guides, educators and businesses by providing a marketable credential certification, increasing communication between businesses and the agencies trying to reduce recreational disturbance, and creating a standard level of information that businesses convey to their customers, thereby enhancing understanding among constituents.

      2. Great Lakes Region - New York Sea Grant: Opportunities to Enhance the Processing and Marketing of Aquatic Foods

        1. Through an annual Seafood Summit, one on one consultations, free HACCP training, regulatory and marketing guides, and customizable seafood resource cards, New York Sea Grant was able to leverage partnerships to establish multiple resources for various members of the seafood industry to enhance the processing and marketing of aquatic foods

      3. Pacific Region - Guam Sea Grant: Championing Outreach Beyond Guam's Shores

        1. The program features educational opportunities for all demographics throughout the year comprised of school outreach for students K-12 that focus on the topics of sea turtle and coral reef preservation, reduction of marines debris, invasive species, sustainable fisheries, watershed restoration, aquaculture, recycling, resilience, and the sustainable development goals – regularly incorporating place-based references and science. 

  • 2022 Award Winner
    South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium: Calling the Coast Home Realtor Continuing Education Series

    1. Continuing education credit courses for Real Estate Professionals that deliver up-to-date science and information on important coastal topics and issues relevant to coastal and ocean property ownership, maintenance, and use, that these realtors can then share with their clients. 

    2. 2022 Finalists

      • West Coast and Pacific Region - Guam Sea Grant: Center for Island Sustainability Outreach Program
        • ​​This program maintains a regular schedule of educational outreach programs for people of all ages, including the Guam Micronesia Island Fair and the Guam World Oceans Day Expo. The continuous outreach is a testament to the Center’s commitment to raise awareness on common environmental issues and promote sustainable island practices. Outreach topics range from energy conservation and efficiency to recycling and waste management.
      • Great Lakes Region - Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin Sea Grant Programs: Advancing Stormwater Management at Marinas in the Great Lakes
        • This project leverages momentum around on-site stormwater management with a new online decision support tool (DST), interactive Virtual Clean Marina simulator, 4 pilot projects at Clean Marinas in Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and outreach through state Clean Marina programs  to demonstrate the benefits of green infrastructure (GI) via on-the-ground installation projects. 
      • Northeast Region - Connecticut Sea Grant: Pandemic Rapid Response Supporting CT Shellfish Aquaculture Businesses
        • ​​​​​​​By working with the shellfish industry, a multi-faceted approach was implemented to offset the economic devastation caused by COVID-19 that directly benefitted more than 90% of the sector in the state. These efforts included offering alternative marketing strategies while wholesale markets were closed, providing assistance with applications for COVID-19 relief funds, and acquiring grant funding that provided compensation to shellfish harvesters participating in a public shellfish bed rehabilitation and broodstock planting efforts.
      • Mid-Atlantic Region - Delaware Sea Grant: Cape Community Coordination for COVID-19
        • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​This ad hoc coalition of civic and community-minded organizations banded together to coordinate the local response to COVID-19 in eastern Sussex County, Delaware including hygiene and sanitation donation drives, facilitating connections between FEMA and the community, and facilitating access to vaccinations for socially and medically vulnerable groups.
  • 2020 Award Winner
    Maine Sea Grant: Aquaculture in Shared Waters Program
    1. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​A community-based aquaculture training program which offers trainings for fishermen and sea farmers based in Maine through hands-on technical assistance, business planning, and access to financing to support students in building sustainable aquaculture and careers and farms. 
      1. 2020 Finalists
        • West Coast and Pacific Region - Hawai‘i Sea Grant: Building Resilience to Coastal Hazards and Climate Change in Hawai‘i
          • Through a 2016 NOAA Regional Coastal Resilience Grant, Hawai‘i Sea Grant developed a Hawai‘i Sea Lever Rise Viewer (Viewer), Guidelines and Training for Post-Disaster Rebuilding and Recovery, and a Guidance for Addressing Sea-Level Rise in Community Planning in Hawaiʻi. 
        • Great Lakes Region - New York Sea Grant: Supporting Lake Ontario Coastal Community Resilience in Response to Record High Water and FloodingT
          • ​​​​​​​T​​​​​​​his program assisted Lake Ontario coastal communities in increasing their resilience to high water, flooding and extreme weather through the use of flood models with finer spatial resolution, and the development of a coastal resilience index for community planning. ​​​​​​​
        • Gulf of Mexico Region - Florida Sea Grant: Florida Friendly Fishing Guides: Preserving Florida’s Fishing Future
          • ​​​​​​​​​​​​To support the recreational and for-hire fishing industry, this program uses an online format including videos, animations, fact sheets, narrated interactive presentations, and evaluations to increase knowledge of captains - who upon completion of the course are recognized through an online listing and boat decals. In all, the course covers 64 science-based best management practices (BMPs) that help reduce the environmental footprint of fishing.
        • Mid-Atlantic Region - New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium: Providing Residents and Government Officials of the City of Ocean City, NJ with Science-based Hazard Mitigation to Address Increased Flooding Events
          • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​This program provided the Ocean City Flooding Facebook group and the City of Ocean City with the tools and knowledge to unite their efforts and work together cooperatively to address increased flooding events. A Future Flood Prediction Analysis was generated and proved to be the critical piece of information that enabled the group and local government officials to scientifically examine flooding. 
        • South Atlantic Region - Georgia Sea Grant: Savannah Green Infrastructure to Green Jobs Initiative: Integrating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion into Flood Resilience
          • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​This program increased community capacity in urban forestry and developed job skills of unemployed and underemployed residents while expanding the City’s green infrastructure and environmental sustainability. The project addressed economic, environmental and social resilience by pairing workforce development with pragmatic solutions to help reduce flood risks in vulnerable, historically marginalized neighborhoods of Savannah. 
  • 2018 Award Winner
    Gulf of Mexico Sea Grant Programs (Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Texas and Louisiana): Building Bridges across Sea Grant and Beyond: The Oil Spill Science Outreach Program
    1. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​In response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, the Sea Grant Oil Spill Science Outreach Team was conceived as a means to provide timely and relevant spill-related information to diverse audiences whose livelihoods depend on a healthy Gulf of Mexico or who manage Gulf resources. 
  • 2018 Finalists
    1. West Coast and Pacific Region: The Alaska Young Fishermen’s Summit: Building a Network of Future Fishing Leaders
      • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The Summit is a three-day, fast-paced, intensive leadership and professional development conference for new participants in commercial fisheries. It features prominent industry and state leaders as volunteer speakers and mentors, enables peer networking, and has energized young fishermen throughout the state. 
    2. Great Lakes Region: Sustainable Small Harbors project
      • ​​​​​​​This program aims to assist coastal communities in their planning efforts. The project has enabled six coastal communities with public harbors to do in-depth self-assessments, uncovering strengths and weaknesses related to their waterfront assets. 
    3. Northeast Region: The Connecticut Shellfish Initiative
      • ​​​​​​​This program was established in 2014 to gain a better understanding of the obstacles to growth and to develop a step-by-step plan to address them. It is a stakeholder-driven effort to map out a vision for the future of Connecticut shellfish and shellfisheries, and to increase public awareness about the state’s shellfish heritage. 
    4. Mid-Atlantic Region: N.C River Flood Mitigation Outreach
      • ​​​​​​​NC Sea Grant worked directly with the Town of Windsor and Bertie County to identify strategies to relieve flooding from the Cashie River that runs through the historic downtown. A feasibility study was proposed and funded to examine the management practices in the watershed, and potential changes to the river itself, to help mitigate flooding during large storms. 
    5. South Atlantic Region: Creating a Resilient and Growing Industry in Shellfish Mariculture
      • ​​​​​​​After a moratorium on oyster seed importation was instituted in South Carolina, The Consortium provided the hatchery development technical assistance needed to develop a fully South Carolina-native triploid oyster for in-state growers to remain competitive and maintain their businesses at optimum levels. 
  • 2016 Award Winner - Maine Sea Grant
  • Article: Maine Sea Grant recognized for seaweed aquaculture outreach, research
  • 2014 Award Winner - Georgia Sea Grant
    Article: Georgia Sea Grant and UGA Planning Team win national award for work on Tybee Island Sea Level Rise (pdf)