<strong>California</strong> <strong>Sea</strong> <strong>Grant</strong>: 1998-2003 iv
Program Overview Welcome to <strong>California</strong> <strong>Sea</strong> <strong>Grant</strong> (CSG). The pages that follow contain an overview of the organization and management of the program, brief descriptions of program components, information regarding planning activities, benchmark data on program attributes, information on finances and a sampling of portfolios. All of this material is oriented toward the past five years, March 1998 through February 2003. <strong>California</strong> occupies approximately two-thirds of the West Coast of the contiguous continental United States. The state stretches more than 1750 km from the Mexican border to the 42nd Parallel. The <strong>California</strong> coastal environment is remarkably diverse and encompasses two distinct marine zones. In the northern part of the state, the coast is characterized by cold water swept south from Alaska by the <strong>California</strong> Current, high-energy rocky coastlines and northern and transition zone marine flora and fauna. South of Point Conception (near <strong>San</strong>ta Barbara), the coast has warmer water fed by the <strong>California</strong> Counter Current, lower energy coasts with sandy beaches, and marine flora and fauna common to more temperate and subtropical waters. The continental shelf is quite narrow, ranging from less than 3 km to no more than 16 km. Against this backdrop is a rich coastal marine flora and fauna with more than 525 species of fish, kelp forests, large populations of marine mammals and shorebirds, and high rates of productivity. This diversity and richness of <strong>California</strong>’s coastal environment is challenged by human encroachment. Over 80 percent of <strong>California</strong>’s 34 million residents live in coastal counties. The coastal environment has historically been rich in fisheries and mineral resources. Entire <strong>California</strong> coastal communities were founded on fisheries such as sardines and tuna. Oil drilling platforms still characterize the <strong>San</strong>ta Barbara Channel. Two enormous commercial seaports are found in Long Beach-Los Angeles and Oakland-<strong>San</strong> Francisco, and a large military port in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Diego</strong>. Tourism is a major industry with Huntington Beach drawing almost as many visitors per year as all the beaches in Delaware. Tens of thousands of surfers enjoy the waves along the southern coasts. However, major problems exist from coastal water pollution, depletion of fisheries, loss of wetlands, urbanization of the coastline and introductions of exotic species. The challenges to managing and preserving this environment are extensive. Against this backdrop, CSG has developed a program that encompasses a wide diversity of issues in research, education and outreach. Major foci for the program are coastal sciences, coastal fisheries, aquaculture, and marine biotechnology, with smaller efforts in marine policy and law, and marine engineering. <strong>California</strong> <strong>Sea</strong> <strong>Grant</strong> is the largest of the thirty <strong>Sea</strong> <strong>Grant</strong> Programs nationwide. The annual budget of the program is approximately $8 million from all sources, including matching funds. From its beginning, the program has been characterized by excellence in research and graduate education. In <strong>California</strong> an extraordinary pool of academic talent has driven research in marine sciences, and many high-caliber students are associated with those researchers. CSG typically supports forty-five to fifty concurrent research projects at up to $100,000 per year for a maximum of three years. In addition to the research funds for each project, additional support for one or two graduate students called “<strong>Sea</strong> <strong>Grant</strong> trainees” is provided. Until recently, the outreach portion of CSG was tailored primarily to reflect the research effort. The six marine advisors and two specialists have had a research component in their position descriptions that was matched to one of the six program foci. In a similar vein, the communications effort of CSG was almost exclusively focused on technical publications such as proceedings of symposia, resource books and peerreviewed publications. In the past few years, CSG has undergone a transition, particularly in outreach. While continuing to support approximately the same number of research projects and graduate students, the program has sought to diversify and broaden its outreach activities. This is driven by a desire to reach a larger constituency and a conscious effort to better integrate all aspects of the program into a research-outreach continuum. Examples of this continuum include: results of research routinely recast into a style and format readily used by the news media, placement of research feature articles in popular media, technical workshops organized for specific user groups, and conferences and symposia that bring together researchers and outreach staff. Following is a broad-brush view of CSG. The reader is encouraged to request additional materials for any item(s) that pique their interest. Redfish (male), Pimelometopon pulcher (Ayers). <strong>San</strong> <strong>Diego</strong>. (1882) 1 <strong>California</strong> <strong>Sea</strong> <strong>Grant</strong>: 1998-2003
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