The Boating and Waterway Management team is involved in a number of projects:

Right Whales and Recreational Boaters

Florida Sea Grant researchers have begun a study that uses GIS technology to better understand boater travel patterns off the coasts of St. Johns, Duval and Nassau counties. Mapping those patterns can help whale managers better understand boater-whale interactions in area waterways.

More information about this study is available at this link.

Sarasota Bay SolVES

Florida Sea Grant researchers, in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey, have begun a project that uses GIS technology (SolVES modeling) to map the social values of ecosystem services in Sarasota Bay. Linking social values and the provision of ecosystem services through spatial mapping provides coastal managers with an effective and efficient tool to better understand the role of humans in the ecological seascape.

More information about this study is available at this link or by contacting Zac Cole. 

 Challenges Facing Working Waterways and Waterfronts

Florida Sea Grant is part of a nationwide coalition to address the challenges facing traditional working waterfront areas. The National Working Waterways and Waterfronts Coalition works to create awareness of the value of working waterways and waterfronts to local communities and economies. Sea Grant specialists Bob Swett and Tom Ankersen, along with Alan Hodges, IFAS Food and Resource Economics, are part of a national team that received $297,000 in October 2011 from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to create community and economic development tools for preserving working waterfronts and waterways.

More information about this effort is available at this link.