Program Expertise

Maryland Sea Grant plays a key role in the Chesapeake Bay community as an unbiased broker of creditable science and policy information. Over the past thirty years, Sea Grant has developed particular expertise in the following areas:

Synthesis

Issues surrounding the marine environment are inherently interdisciplinary — fisheries management is as much about people as it is about fish, economic analyses are as crucial to cleaning up toxics in the Bay as chemical analyses. Maryland Sea Grant plays the challenging role of bringing together diverse information from varied sources to craft a big-picture understanding of an issue. It played an important role with the Chesapeake Bay Commission’s Bi-state Blue Crab Advisory Committee by synthesizing information on a species managed by three different jurisdictions, ultimately helping to develop an Action Plan for rebuilding the Bay’s iconic blue crab fishery. Sea Grant has also helped to synthesize information on a broad range of other Bay issues including contaminants, oyster restoration, and oxygen dynamics.

Facilitation

The Chesapeake Bay area is a hotbed for complex and, at times, contentious issues including fisheries management, coastal restoration, aquaculture, and environmental finance. Maryland Sea Grant is frequently called upon to guide discussions and facilitate decision-making processes among multiple stakeholders and to provide a fair and neutral platform from which solutions can be generated.

Communications

For three decades, Maryland Sea Grant has delivered high quality, accurate Chesapeake Bay-related communications products to a broad public. With a dedicated communications team, MDSG uses several different mediums to engage diverse audiences. Sea Grant has produced award-winning films on topics from Pfiesteria to Bay restoration to catch-and-release fishing. Each issue of its acclaimed magazine, Chesapeake Quarterly, gives an in-depth look at an important Bay topic such as climate change or oyster disease. And its books and fact sheets range from authoritative references to thought-provoking essays. More information.

Outreach & Extension

A key component of Maryland Sea Grant’s mission is outreach to a wide range of audiences.

Technical expertise is made available through the Maryland Sea Grant Extension Program which brings together the experience of specialists in aquaculture, seafood technology, marine economics, land-use and coastal planning, science education, water quality, and related fields. In each of these areas, specialists provide diverse programming, bringing science-based information to policy makers, managers, the media, and the public.

Maryland Sea Grant also works to share its behind-the-scenes expertise. Innovations in administration have increased the efficiency of managing Maryland Sea Grant programs, funds, and activities. MDSG has led the way in online budget and reporting software. The computer-based tools developed by Maryland Sea Grant have been used by Sea Grant programs and others throughout the country to help streamline finance and administration efforts.