For more than 50 years, UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant has served the state through integrated research, education, and extension programs that promote the responsible use and stewardship of Georgia’s coastal resources.
By serving as a bridge between scientists, local governments, and marine industries, we help communities protect coastal resources through sustainable, science-based solutions. Our extension specialists connect university expertise with local needs to strengthen the economic vitality and resilience of coastal communities. Education staff enhance environmental literacy and inspire stewardship by engaging the public, teachers, and students in programs that highlight the importance of Georgia’s coastal ecosystems. We also prepare the next generation of educators and marine scientists through workforce development opportunities for college students. Meanwhile, our research program supports applied studies across Georgia that expand understanding of coastal and estuarine systems and address pressing environmental challenges.
Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant is managed through a federal-state partnership between the University of Georgia (UGA) and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Sea Grant College Program, a network of 34 Sea Grant programs located in coastal and Great Lakes states and territories.
Mission and Focus Areas
Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant’s mission is to improve the environmental, social and economic health of the Georgia coast through research, education and extension.
Every four years, we develop a long-range strategic plan that describes our goals and priorities for the coming years. To create this plan, we utilize an inclusive, multi-step process that incorporates fresh input from a variety of stakeholders.
Read Our 2024-2027 Strategic Plan
Our work falls within four focus areas, allowing our team to respond to changing social, environmental and economic conditions along the coast.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Literacy and Workforce Development
- Healthy Coastal Ecosystems
- Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture
- Resilient Communities and Economies
Why is UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant vital for Georgia’s coast?
Georgia’s dynamic coastal environment and its communities are changing rapidly. Population increase, shifting demographics, coastal development, loss of working waterfronts, aging infrastructure, pollution, habitat loss, species migration, and sea level rise are just a handful of pressing issues that are currently impacting the health of the Georgia coast.
These issues demand careful consideration and informed decision-making, and, because many of these issues extend beyond state lines, they also demand working across geographic boundaries to establish regional and national partnerships that address issues on a broader scale.
Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant’s applied research capabilities, local knowledge, and on-the-ground workforce allows us to rapidly identify issues, capitalize on opportunities, and generate practical solutions to real problems. This is achieved through a place-based approach that combines research, education, extension, law and policy, and communications efforts to understand risks and uncertainties and provide solutions.
Our History
In 1970, the University of Georgia initiated a marine extension program with startup funds provided through the efforts of J.W. Fanning, then Vice President for Services. The program was established to provide the seafood industry with the type of assistance that the Cooperative Extension Service provided to agriculture. Edward Chin, who also had responsibility for coordinating the university’s marine programs on Sapelo Island and Skidaway Island, led the program.
UGA Marine Extension was formally established as a line item in the State of Georgia’s B-budget under the University in 1971. From its modest startup funds of a mere $20,000, the program has grown exponentially.
The first Marine Extension fisheries specialist, David Harrington, was hired in 1970 and stationed in Brunswick, a center of the seafood industry. Harrington established an unprecedented working relationship between the commercial fishing sector and UGA that continues to this day. A permanent office was built in 1980 on three acres of waterfront property near downtown. Additional staff were hired in Brunswick and Atlanta to address the problems of the seafood packing, processing and marketing industries.
On Skidaway Island, near Savannah, UGA Marine Extension initiated a marine environmental education program that would become nationally known. The organization constructed a marine education center on Skidaway Island in 1971, and secured additional funding for a dormitory and dining facility in 1972. Since its opening, the Marine Education Center and Aquarium on Skidaway Island has fostered greater environmental awareness of Georgia’s unique salt marsh ecosystem for hundreds of thousands of students, teachers and adults who have visited.
In the early 1980s, a program was initiated to introduce molluscan aquaculture to the state. The Shellfish Research Laboratory on Skidaway Island is the center for these operations with field research carried on along the entire coast of Georgia.
Due to demonstrated excellence in research, education and extension services, the Department of Commerce, under section 207 of the National Sea Grant Program Act, designated UGA as the nation’s fifteenth Sea Grant College Program in 1980.