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A description of ongoing Florida Sea Grant funded projects, organized by focus area, is provided below. All of these applied social and natural science projects address priority issues affecting Florida’s oceans and coasts and they are being done in collaboration with the private sector, local governments, or with resource management agencies. Monitor the progress of these projects here.
Aquaculture
Boating and Waterways Planning
Climate Change
Coastal Planning
Fisheries
Healthy Ecosystems
Seafood Safety
Sustainable and Hazard-Resilient Communities
Aquaculture
Eliminating Barriers to Commercial Production of Sunray Venus Clams: Enhanced Hatchery Production, Growout Site Selection, and Definition of Wholesale Market Product Attributes.
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, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute;
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, University of Florida. Investigators will aid commercial hatchery operators in their initial production of clam seed for the industry; characterize soil types that are best suited for sunray venus clams; determine product attributes in the wholesale distribution system; and identify economic benefits to the industry.
Preparing for Climate Change: Increasing Hard Clam Production and Survival in the Southeastern United States Using Biomarkers of Thermal Tolerance. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. This project will provide the data needed to develop a more robust, heat-tolerant clam-strain. Investigators will identify biomarkers, or indicators, of hertiable thermal tolerance in hard clams for use in implementing selective breeding programs for heat-tolerance.
Evaluating Performance of Pilot and Commercial Wastewater Systems Associated with Inland Production of High-Value Marine Fish. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Mote Marine Laboratory. This project will investigate using recovered dissolved nutrients and solids from recirculating aquaculture systems to help develop land-based sustainable production methods for a high-value marine fish, Florida pompano (Trachinotus carolinus).
Implementation of an Extension Program to Develop the Marine Baitfish Aquaculture Industry in Florida. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida. This project will focus on concerted extension activities to educate current and potential aquaculture producers, wholesale and retail distributors about the burgeoning aquaculture-based marine baitfish industry, and increase the number of extension personnel trained to serve the marine bait industry.
Initial Assessment of Mechanical Harvesting Bottom-planted Hard Clams Mercenaria mercenaria on Shellfish Aquaculture Leases in Florida. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida. Shellfish are typically grown in bottom bags and harvested manually by the use of hand-held implements. This project is determining the utility of a mechanical device (i.e., a modified hydraulic rake) as a more efficient and cost-effective method for harvesting bottom-planted shellfish, such as hard clams, in Florida.
Monitoring, Predicting, and Managing the Environmental Impacts of Offshore Aquaculture in the United States. Daniel Benetti, University of Miami. While there have been excellent models developed to predict the effects of aquaculture on a local scale, there has been no attempt to model the impacts of large-scale open-ocean aquaculture on an ecosystem or regional basis. Investigators will determine how nutrients exported from open-ocean aquaculture travel through the water column/food web.
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Boating and Waterways Planning
Assisting Coastal Communities to Plan and Manage Their Waterfronts and Waterways. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida. In this ongoing project, researchers will develop science-based methods that support and improve water use planning, management, and decision-making; facilitate the implementation of local, regional, and state plans and policies that address waterfront development, boating, and other waterway uses; and foster interagency communication.
Analyzing Offshore Recreational Boating in Three Northeast Florida Counties. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida. This project will map boating traffic patterns in northeast Florida to allow whale managers to better focus outreach efforts and more accurately assess the effects of future marine-related projects on protected species such as the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis). Investigators will use geographic information system, or GIS, technology to better understand boater travel patterns off the coasts of St. Johns, Duval and Nassau counties.
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Climate Change
A Spatial-Temporal Econometric Model to Estimate Costs and Benefits of Sea-Level Rise Adaptation Strategies. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida. This collaborative project with Hillsborough County will develop an economic model to quantify the costs and benefits of different adaptation strategies to sea-level rise, with Hillsborough County serving as the case study.
Rural Coastal Adaptation Planning for Sea Level Rise. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida. The goal of this project, done in partnership with the Levy County Planning Department and the Florida Department of Community Affairs, is to test a recently developed participatory planning model for integrated sea-level rise adaptation in a rural pilot county, Levy, including its incorporated and unincorporated communities, and then develop a method to adapt the pilot model to other rural counties. For more information on this project, visit http://changinglevycoast.org.
An Integrated Climate Change Impact Assessment Tool for Flooding of the Lower St. Johns River. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Central Florida; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , United States Army Corps of Engineers. This research, in collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, will produce a geospatial information tool that can be used by coastal resource managers for evaluating different adaptation strategies to climate change and floods.
Development and Application of 21st Century Coastal Inundation Maps. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Florida Sea Grant. This research project will develop 21st century user-friendly coastal storm surge inundation maps to accurately quantify the coastal inundation hazard in Florida under present-day and future climate change/sea-level rise scenarios.
Mapping Florida’s Property Parcels for Sea-Level Rise Planning Using a 10 Meter Digital Elevation Model. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Florida Sea Grant. Using maps from the U.S. Geological Survey and a 10-meter digital elevation model, this project will create an atlas that shows those areas likely to be flooded by sea-level rise. The atlas will present information about each of Florida’s 35 coastal counties.
A Parameterized Climate Change Projection Model for Hurricane Flooding, Wave Action, Economic Damages, and Population Dynamics. Jennifer Irish, Texas A&M University; Dawn Jourdan, University of Florida. The goal of this research is to develop future climate change scenarios, develop a model that will predict wave height in a hurricane and the acceleration of flooding, and develop a Google Earth tool that will help visualize economic damages and affected areas.
Implications for Takings Law on Innovative Planning for Sea-Level-Rise in the Gulf of Mexico. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Mississippi School of Law; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Florida Sea Grant. In coordination with an assembled planning advisory council of nationwide acclaim, this research project will use traditional methods of legal research and writing, including the review of statutory, judicial, regulatory and other legal materials in the areas of eminent domain, regulatory takings law, environmental law and land-use planning law to develop policies for adaptation to sea-level rise in the Gulf of Mexico.
Climate Change Adaptation 2012: Sarasota County, Florida, Process and Tools for Stakeholders. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Florida Sea Grant. This project will design and implement facilitated, collaborative processes with an innovative visualization software and hardware combination to engage stakeholder representatives in Sarasota County. The project will result in policy development to address rebuilding of damaged structures after a storm.
Reconstructing the history of intense hurricane landfalls in Southwest Florida over the past 5,000 years. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Florida Gulf Coast University. The goal of this study is to determine if hurricane intensity and frequency over the past 5,000 years is related to sea surface temperatures, the occurrence of El Nino Southern Oscillation, or intense coastal erosion.
Climate Change Adaptation 2012: Sarasota County, Florida, Process and Tools for Stakeholders. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Florida Sea Grant. This project is using new mapping and visualization technology called Community Health and Resource Management (CHARM) to support a stakeholder-driven process to evaluate alternative strategies for minimizing risk to coastal properties from sea-level-rise in Sarasota County, Florida.
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Coastal Planning
State and Local Policy Innovation and Implementation for Coastal Access, Coastal Economic and Ecosystem Health, and Coastal Hazard Mitigation and Adaptation. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida. The project aims to protect public infrastructure and sustain critical habitats (sea turtle nesting sites and coastal wetlands), develop a planning model to identify and evaluate critical marine infrastructure, offer policy resources to the Florida Waterfronts Partnership Program, and create watershed protection strategies targeted to Northwest Florida's blackwater streams.
Community-Based Hazard Identification, Planning and Engagement. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Florida Sea Grant. This project will end in the development of risk communication materials for low-population Florida coastal communities that are subject to risks from oil spills, storm surge and sea-level rise. The materials will be appropriate for local government planners, attorneys and managers; business representatives; elected officials; and locally-important opinion leaders.
Building Local Capacity: Workshops on Legal Issues in Sea-Level Rise Adaptation for Local Governments in Florida. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Florida Sea Grant. This project is implementing a series of workshops to increase the level of knowledge among local government planners, attorneys, and decision-makers regarding options coastal communities have for addressing sea-level-rise.
Map and Table Revisions to the “Atlas of Potential Sea-Level Rise Impacts at the County Scale: Aggregate Parcel and Land Use.” This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida. This project is refining the resolution of a map-based Atlas generated from a spatial analysis of projected sea level rise impacts to coastal property values in Florida.
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Fisheries
Ecosystem-based Fishery Management: A Potential Interdisciplinary Approach to Evaluating Grouper Harvest Policies. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida. Researchers are partnering with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to evaluate different methods to sustainably manage stocks of economically important sport fish in the Gulf of Mexico. The researchers are using state-of-art modeling tools to explore the ecological and economic impacts of different harvest policies for Grouper, including seasonal closures, fishing quotas, and length limits on the fishery.
Determining the Ecological and Epidemiological Consequences of Casitas in the Florida Spiny Lobster Fishery. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida. This project will determine the effect of artificial structures (casitas) used for commercial fishing on the survival, condition and transmission of a lethal virus among spiny lobsters. The research is being done in collaboration with lobster fishermen in the Florida Keys.
Design of a Planning Framework to Strengthen the Role of Fisherfolks Organizations in Promoting Cooperative Self-Governance of Caribbean Fishery Resources. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Florida Sea Grant. This project will examine the role that Caribbean fisheries officers and extension professionals can play in increasing the influence of Fisherfolks Organizations (FFO) in sustaining fishery resources, and identify mechanisms to strengthen the interface between FFO and key government agencies and between FFO and their constituents, through a coordinated strategic planning process.
An examination of the reproductive potential and connectivity of offshore adults to inshore spawning populations of common snook (Centropomus undecimalis): Pilot study in Charlotte Harbor. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Mote Marine Laboratory. The main goal of this project is to conduct initial surveys of snook on reef sites offshore of Charlotte Harbor, Florida to determine their abundance and sizes, reproductive condition, and residence time/movement patterns during the summer spawning season.
Sea Grant Extension Fish Recompression Training Initiative. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Florida Sea Grant. In this project, a variety of recompression gear will be purchased and tested by marine extension agents. Agents will recruit recreational anglers to help evaluate the practical use of the tested gear, and information regarding efficacy of recompression methods will be compiled.
Improving Larval Performance of High-Value Marine Fishes Using Micro-diets. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Mote Marine. This project is determining optimal diets and weaning protocols for the aquaculture and stock enhancement of three high-value marine fish in Florida: Pompano, Red Drum and Common Snook.
Framing Sustainability for our Nation’s Fisheries: A Development Program for the Gulf of Mexico. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida. This project is establishing a regional network comprised of regulatory agency and industry experts to strengthen collaboration among those groups and to affirm the sustainability and safety of Gulf of Mexico seafood products.
A Participatory Co-management Strategy for the use of Fish Aggregation Devices in Dominica and St. Vincent to Sustain the Caribbean Pelagic Fishery and Communities that Depend on it. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Florida Sea Grant. This project, being funded through Counterpart International, is developing a monitoring system and a stakeholder engagement process to document fishing effort and to develop best management options for the use of Fish Aggregation Devices, which are increasingly being used by Caribbean artisanal fishers.
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Healthy Ecosystems
Environmental Controls on the Dynamics of Nursery Habitat Quality for Estuarine-Dependent Fishes. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Florida State University. This research will provide coastal managers with a quantitative tool that can be used to predict the consequences of variable environmental conditions on the capacity of estuarine nursery habitats to support the production of juvenile fishes.
Piloting a Community-Based Social Marketing Program to Protect Marine Ecosystems from Boating Impacts. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Central Florida; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida. In collaboration with the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program, this pilot project will identify barriers and benefits of environmentally-responsible recreational boating and use the findings to develop, implement, and test a program to increase awareness of the importance of protecting marine systems from boating impacts, map the locations of ecologically sensitive zones, and increase responsible boating around those zones on the Indian River.
Investigating the Effects of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on the Trophic Ecology of Sharks and Teleost Fishes of the Florida Big Bend Using Stable Isotope Analysis. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Florida State University. This project will investigate effects of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on the trophic structure of fishes in the Florida Big Bend. Investigators will use stable isotope analysis and traditional gut content analysis to describe the trophic ecology of fishes in the Big Bend before and after the oil spill.
Installation of an oyster-reef monitoring framework throughout Apalachicola Bay, FL to understand declining oyster landings and alternative management strategies. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Florida State University. Investigators will assess oyster population dynamics in harvested and unharvested areas throughout the Apalachicola basin. Researchers will quantify the abundance, size-structure, recruitment, growth, and survivorship of oysters throughout Apalachicola Bay ain away that is compatible with similar regional efforts.
Spatial Ecological Modeling of the Gulf of Mexico Supporting an Integrated Ecosystem Assessment. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of South Florida. This project is developing a spatial food-web model using the Atlantis simulation framework to support ecosystem-based fishery management efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. The model will use stock assessments, fisheries independent surveys, and geospatial data on habitat, species distributions, and human-use patterns to provide a synoptic view of marine ecosystem function.
Seagrass Restoration Initiative Using Laboratory-Reared Ruppia maritime Seedlings. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Bethune Cookman. Traditional methods of re-planting seagrass to stabilize sediment and restore coastal habitats is labor intensive and costly. This project is investigating alternative strategies to more effectively re-establish seagrass beds (Ruppia maritima) in degraded Indian River Lagoon habitats where seagrasses once flourished.
The Importance of Homing and Sensory Cues in the Conservation of Critical Coastal Habitat for Sharks. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Mote Marine. Sharks possess refined sensory homing characteristics that guide them back to specific birthing and nursery grounds to mate and pup. This project is evaluating the impact that harvesting large numbers of sharks in the ocean will have on their reproductive success and the potential for localized stock depletion.
Fishing Down an Invasive Species: Determining the Effort Necessary to Reduce Local Lionfish Population and Mitigate Their Effects. Chris Stallings, University of South Florida; Mark Albins, Auburn University; Craig Layman, Florida International University. This project is attempting to identify the most efficient and cost-effective methods to fish down lionfish numbers so native fish populations can recover and stabilize. Researchers will use volunteer spear divers to capture lionfish at different frequency rates from five selected areas off southeast Florida, while monitoring changes in the numbers of prey-sized native fishes.
Assessing the Effectiveness of Dedicated Lionfish Removals for Restoration of Ecological Function. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Puerto Rico; Matthew Craig, MTC Associates. This project will evaluate the effectiveness of using divers and snorkelers competing in fishing derbies and rodeos to reduce lionfish numbers in Puerto Rico. Lionfish derbies have become popular social events across the Caribbean and South Florida that help raise public awareness about the lionfish problem, but there are no precise results that help resource managers determine if they are effective for small-scale control under a variety of conditions.
Developing Practical Removal Techniques for Lionfish Control.
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, REEF. Researchers will try to determine which is the most effective of three lionfish removal techniques – derbies, traps, or continuous removal. The Reef Environmental Education Foundation, known as REEF, will compare and contrast results from among the three on coral reefs in selected locations in South Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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Seafood Safety
Grouper Forensics for Seafood Quality Control. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of South Florida. Product substitution is a serious issue for the nation’s seafood industry. In this ongoing project, researchers are developing a rapid testing device that can be used by restaurants, retail and wholesale seafood operations to determine if fish labeled as Grouper is the real article.
Implementation of Vibrio Monitoring Methods Needed to Sustain Florida Coastal Communities. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida. This project will develop a more cost-effective and rapid testing method that will detect all three pathogenic Vibrio species, while assessing the factors that contribute to the distribution of Vibrios in oysters.
Updating Public Health Advisories Regarding Methylmercury in Seafood. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida. This project will provide the public, especially women and children, with the best health advice currently available regarding the risks and benefits of seafood consumption relative to potential methylmercury exposure through extension efforts to update and train the involved stakeholders affecting policy, public health advice and education.
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Sustainable and Hazard-Resilient Communities
Development of Test-Based Data on Hurricane-Induced Building Interior, Utility, and Contents Damage for Improved Risk Prediction and Mapping. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Florida International University. This project will develop, for the first time, benchmark test-based vulnerability models on hurricane wind-, rain-, and wind-borne debris induced total interior damage, a major contributor to hurricane losses to typical residential homes, and use such models to significantly enhance the existing the Florida Public Hurricane Loss Model and other catastrophe models and their predictions of risk distribution for the Florida and nationwide building stock.
Design Guidelines for Retrofitting Wood Roof Sheathing Using Closed-Spray Applied Polyurethane Foams. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida. Researchers believe this study will open up a new market for using closed-spray applied polyurethane foams (ccSPF) as a sustainable retrofit method in residential construction. The recommendations for design of wood roof retrofits with ccSPF will be provided to building code officials and disseminated to homeowners through the Florida Building Commission.
Cluster Mapping and Economic Analysis of Florida’s Ocean and Coastal Assets. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Florida Ocean Alliance. The goal of this project is to identify and develop a cluster map of ocean and coastal assets in Florida and to update an economic analysis of those assets. The goal is to make state decision-makers aware of the critical importance of oceans and coasts to the Florida’s economy so that Florida will incorporate a conservation perspective in ocean management.
Informing Water Treatment Options for Rural Water Supply Systems in Peninsular Florida. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida. This project will result in the development of water treatment practices for rural, coastal Florida water supply systems that maximize efficiency of the water treatment system while minimizing adverse environmental, economic, and social impacts to communities and ecosystems.
Development of photosynthetic biorefinery employing a novel nitrogen fixing, polysaccharide secreting marine cyanobacterium. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , University of Florida. This project is evaluating the potential of marine cyanobacteria as a source of energy that can be produced in sufficient quantities to support the needs of the biofuel industry.
