COVID-19 is clearly impacting us all, and Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant is no exception. We have worked hard to follow the guidance coming from the University of Georgia and the Centers for Disease Control. Our biggest priorities in our response has been the health and safety of our staff and the public that we interact with regularly. For this reason, we made the hard decision to cancel many of our public programs and conferences this spring as well as our summer marine science camps scheduled in June. We are working to transition our in-person events to virtual platforms and plan to reschedule our larger events to fall 2020.
Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant staff are teleworking to limit contact with others. For the past month, we have been responding responsibly and are playing our part as an organization to keep our communities safe and informed. Our resilient team of professionals are committed to the Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant mission and we will do everything that we can to support our coastal communities through our research, education and extension programming. We are reaching out to our constituencies to determine their needs and trying to respond as best we can. Whether you are a parent looking for educational activities for your children, a shrimper or oyster farmer trying to move your product to market, or a hotel, restaurant, or seafood business that is currently closed to business, please know that we are still working for you and trying to respond creatively in some difficult times.
We are still available to you by phone, email or videoconference. Please don’t hesitate to reach out. Working together, will we make it through this and hopefully emerge stronger together.