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For Florida’s 17 million residents and about 78 million annual visitors, the coast and its resources are a major attraction and an important part of their environment. Nowhere else in the United States are so many people so close to such an extensive and economically valuable coastline. Florida’s population in the “coastal corridor,” the 35 counties that touch the coastline, represents almost 80 percent of the state’s residents. By 2025, the state’s population is predicted to reach 23.2 million, meaning an additional 5.0 million people will live in the coastal counties – a growth rate roughly equivalent to adding one new city of Tampa each year.
A visit to Florida’s shore reveals incomparable natural beauty. It also reveals a set of resources for which intense competition exists. Sport and commercial fisheries, recreational beach activities, boating, marinas, unique ecologies, productive wetlands, scenic views, urban and rural development, heavy and intense industrial use and the amenity-based economic and social lives of our coastal communities have all combined to place Florida’s development and management in a fragile balance.
Working together, all Floridians must find a socially acceptable way to satisfy the demand for these resources while protecting their ecological integrities. Florida Sea Grant is poised to assist in solving problems that are created by this setting and to create opportunities to do so through its university base.
Agency Partners
Florida Sea Grant is located in a state with a wealth of complementary local, state and federal agencies that constitute potential partners in programs. In fact, most of them have partnered with FSG in recent years. Many county and city governments have marine/coastal/environmental departments with which FSG marine agents cooperate. Counties also partner in providing funding for the statewide Sea Grant Extension Program. Regional organizations also exist; two notable ones are the West Coast Inland Navigation District and the Florida Inland Navigation District. Cooperation is also sought with national and regional agencies not located in Florida (e.g., NOAA's Coastal Services Center and the Atlantic states and Gulf states marine fisheries commissions) Other state and federal agencies with planned and likely collaborations are:
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
- Shellfish Management
- Seafood Marketing
Florida Department of Community Affairs
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
- Beaches and Coastal Systems
- Coastal Management Program
- Clean Marina Program
- Environmental Education Program
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
- Marine Fisheries Management
- Fish and Wildlife Research Institute
- Habitat and Species Conservation Program
- Boating and Waterways
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Risk Management Agency
- Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- National Estuary Program
- Tampa Bay
- Charlotte Harbor
- Indian River Lagoon
U.S. Federal Fisheries Management Councils
- Gulf of Mexico
- South Atlantic (located in South Carolina)
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- National Marine Fisheries Service
- Southeast Fisheries Science Center (and Panama City Laboratory)
- Southeast Regional Office
- Atlantic Oceanographic and Atmospheric Laboratory
- Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
- National Estuarine Research Reserves
- Apalachicola Bay
- Rookery Bay
- Guana Tolomato Matanzas
Industry, Non-governmental and Other Partners
Florida Sea Grant also benefits greatly from partnerships that exist with groups that are not governmental agencies. These partners may be
individual companies, associations representing a particular industry sector, non-governmental organizations and other groups ranging from
local to international interests that provide funding or other resources to a Florida Sea Grant activity. Individual companies are not listed
but are included implicitly through industry associations. The following list of partners is a sampling of the many organizations that have
participated in a Florida Sea Grant research, extension or communications activity during the last few years; many more could actually be
included. The partners cut across all nine Sea Grant goal areas, are organized by geographic setting and are representative of the 61
organizations that partnered with Florida Sea Grant from 2000-04.
Local and State
Apalachicola Oyster Dealers Association
Aylesworth Foundation for the Advancement of Marine Science
BioFlorida
Coastal Conservation Association of Florida
Florida Wildlife Conservation Society
Florida Audubon Society
Florida Aquaculture Association
Florida Aquarium
Florida Bar Association
Florida Lifeguard Association
Florida Marine Science Educators Association
Florida Medical Association
Florida Museum of Natural History
Florida Shore and Beach Preservation Association
Marine Industries Association of Florida
Old Salt Fishing Club
Organized Fishermen of Florida
Southern Fisheries Association
The Nature Conservancy - Florida
Regional
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
Centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence
Gulf and South Atlantic Fisheries Development Foundation
Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission
Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference
National and International
Association of Food and Drug Officials
Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute
National Fisheries Institute
National Marine Manufacturers Association
National Shrimp Processors Association
United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization
The National Sea Grant College Program was created in 1966 by federal legislation. This partnership involving the nation's best universities and a
wide array of state and federal agencies, businesses and citizens is centrally linked to the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. Florida Sea Grant is one of the 32 Sea Grant programs, all based within the academic structures of their state. In Florida,
the program is a statewide university-based research, education and extension program, and was designated a Sea Grant College by the U.S. Department
of Commerce in 1976.
Florida Sea Grant is a State of Florida Center within the state's Board of Education. State of Florida centers must 1) achieve a statewide mission,
2) have a working relationship with two or more universities and 3) be successful in leveraging external funding support. Each center operates from
a host campus (for Sea Grant, the University of Florida [UF]). The management team and all support staff are housed in one office complex at UF.
Research activities and general contact with the 16 universities and laboratories participating in Sea Grant are conducted through the Campus Coordinators,
appointed by the presidents of their institutions. Extension and communications programs are conducted in cooperation with UF's Institute of Food and
Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) extension and communications network.
The University of Florida is the state's largest and most comprehensive university. It is a major research institution, a member of the American
Association of Universities and the federally designated Land Grant and Sea Grant university in Florida. Thus the University of Florida builds on its
Land Grant traditions and embraces and embodies the Sea Grant concept and program. The University of Florida is statewide and reaches into all 67 counties
of the state with an extension office, with additional research and education centers or health science clinics in many counties. Florida Sea Grant builds
on this network in the 35 coastal counties and expands it beyond the state's borders to even international arenas.
This structure gives Florida Sea Grant strong state and local foundations and ensures its ability to seek additional resources at the national, state
and university levels. The use of existing management infrastructure enhances Sea Grant's cost effectiveness. Florida Sea Grant allows for and encourages
collaboration across its individual projects and programs. Faculty can develop "intellectual" initiatives on issues, such as marine biotechnology, where
interests, not geographic location or campus boundary is the common bond. This collaborative work is highly valued.
"SWOT" is an acronym which represents Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. SWOT represents a useful tool for any organization to
use in strategic planning in order to build on its strengths, reverse it weaknesses, maximize its opportunities and overcome its threats. Strengths
and weaknesses are normally internal considerations; opportunities and threats are considerations with more external influence.
Strengths
1. Florida Sea Grant is a science-based statewide network embedded in the best research universities in the state. It is hosted by the state’s Land Grant university which allows its extension and communications programs to function in a proven, recognized and expected way.
2. Florida Sea Grant offers an integrated program of research, outreach and technical assistance that allows it to link the high-quality science-based information it develops with local management structures to provide real solutions to real problems.
3. Florida Sea Grant can identify issues as they emerge at the local level and bring the best scientific minds to bear on these problems.
4. Florida Sea Grant has a comprehensive network of partners and extensive experience interpreting research and scientific information to a broad public.
5. Because Sea Grant is non-regulatory and focuses on understanding the science of coastal resources, it serves as an “honest broker” among a wide range of constituencies; Sea Grant is “resolution” driven, not “regulatory” driven.
6. The stability of Florida Sea Grant over the past three decades has enabled it to make long-term commitments to coastal problems and programs and to develop a highly skilled workforce.
7. Florida Sea Grant is interdisciplinary and can bring many different kinds of expertise to bear on specific problems.
8. Florida Sea Grant is tied to a national network, providing it access to science-based material in over 250 universities nationwide.
9. Florida Sea Grant is a statewide leader in providing educational opportunities for marine-oriented graduate students.
Weaknesses
1. Relatively level federal budgets over the past two decades have decreased the buying power of federal Sea Grant dollars; 2003 buying power of core federal funds was 34 percent below the peak year of 1980 and core plus national federal funds were 17 percent below the peak year.
2. Florida Sea Grant’s budget now comes from eight different sources making stable program planning difficult in some cases.
3. It is more difficult to achieve budget priorities for state appropriations since the program is embedded in many different universities and departments, making the Sea Grant investment in each university relatively small in contrast to their total budgets.
4. Florida Sea Grant must rely on the good will of universities to participate in and support the program.
5. The overall budget is too small to make a major impact in many of the priority goal areas and the budget does not allow tackling some of the critical needs of the state and region.
6. The budget is too small to allow for a substantive immediate response capability and longer term commitments beyond the constraints of a two-year project funding cycle.
7. Both lack of funding and recent federal legislative changes cause more competition among Sea Grant programs for limited federal funds; both discourage more regional cooperation across Sea Grant programs.
Opportunities
1. The strong recommendation by the 2004 report of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy that the National Sea Grant College Program should be enhanced through higher federal appropriations lays the groundwork for an expansion of existing programs and creation of new programs in critical need areas.
2. Florida Sea Grant can cause agency, industry and the public to view Sea Grant as Florida’s primary statewide university-based research, education and extension program in support of coastal resource use, management and conservation.
3. Florida Sea Grant assumes a strong leadership role in helping Florida address such critical issues as protecting water quality and coastal habitat, responding to coastal hazards, ensuring seafood safety and developing coastal economies and communities.
4. Florida Sea Grant provides a strong federal-state-local network that integrates research, education and extension to generate practical solutions to real problems and strengthen Florida’s capacity to deal with coastal problems.
5. Florida Sea Grant is prepared to receive and invest substantively increasing resources over the next four years to adequately respond to major coastal challenges and opportunities and to communicate science-based information for resource managers, policy makers and citizens.
6. Florida Sea Grant sits in a unique and valued geographic setting that encourages international cooperation, particularly with Latin America and the Caribbean.
Threats
1. The recognized success of FSG programs will lead to increased demands by a broader constituency that will dilute available resources.
2. Relatively level federal Sea Grant budgets and rapidly increasing extramural budgets by other universities will make Sea Grant less respected and of lower priority within the state.
3. Sea Grant will be unable to maintain its proven and valued multi-task approach rather than evolving into another single source for research funds.
4. Increased public engagement and outreach in marine and coastal topical areas by Florida universities and agencies yields positive education impacts, but could make partners more competitive for funds and reduce Florida Sea Grant’s ability to carry out an effective extension and education program.
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