Portfolio IV: Coastal Communities

Impacts

Maryland Sea Grant efforts in watershed and coastal policy have had a number of very direct impacts and many more indirect impacts.

In terms of direct effects, studies of the value of the state's marine industry influenced the setting of tax policy, avoiding a negative impact on a major economic engine in the region.

Also direct are the impacts on communities of more than two dozen "charrettes" aimed at solving environmental planning issues. These intensive meetings have resulted in specific recommendations that have helped guide communities toward more effective environmental solutions.

In terms of indirect impacts, Sea Grant studies and analyses have helped to change the vocabulary and the dialogue surrounding important environmental issues. For example, the notion of "a sense of place" has been given a particular legitimacy thanks to work done by Sea Grant-supported philosophers and anthropologists.

These international studies have also emphasized the important complementary roles that key communities - scientists, NGOs, governments - play in determining coastal policy. Such studies have helped to take full advantage of the extensive Chesapeake Bay restoration effort as a case study.

Equally important have been educational and training efforts aimed at teaching a range of decision makers about the importance of and approaches to the valuation of natural resources, and specifically coastal resources. These include efforts by philosophers - as described in Saving the Seas, for example - and by our marine economics specialist, who has through numerous workshops around the region and beyond helped to educate key decision makers and resource managers on this crucial issue of marine resources valuation.