Ahead of the Class: Florida Sea Grant Delivers Marine Education
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Home: Investing in Coastal and Marine Education	Community Education	Industry Education	Scientific and Professional Education
Agency and Organization Education	Formal K-12 Education	Youth Education

Investing in Coastal and Marine Education
For Florida's 18 million residents and about 78 million annual visitors, the coast is a major attraction and an important part of their environment. Nowhere in the United States are so many people so close to such an extensive and economically valuable coastline.

The pressures, wants, and needs users place on coastal resources all combine to make understanding and managing one of the most fragile environments on earth a difficult and often controversial undertaking. Florida Sea Grant has a vital role to fill in this complex endeavor, and has assumed a leadership role in the creation of a betterinformed and more responsible populace - one that recognizes its impact on the quality of the environment. This understanding is essential for Floridians to rationally manage continued growth in the coastal zone, as well as to equitably resolve the ever-increasing competition for coastal resources.

Beyond the Traditional Classroom
While Florida's schools and universities provide structure and visibility for how our citizens and visitors learn about the marine environment, Sea Grant educational programs often move into more informal classroom settings where specialized learning and practical skills can be acquired more effectively.

Using a combination of research, education and technology transfer, Sea Grant extension and communications programs interpret and deliver information to audiences in a format they can use. Efforts are focused among six principal stakeholder groups: citizens of local communities; the state's industry; scientists and academic professionals; governmental and non-governmental managers of coastal resources; K-12 educators; and youths. Some of the programs may be recognized as continuing education, professional development, or executive education; all are delivered with a strategic approach designed to solve specific problems or help its citizens make Florida a better place to live.

Recent Educational Events
Workshops and conferences are a major outreach activity of Florida Sea Grant's non-formal education initiative. In most cases, these events are held to accomplish specific objectives planned by Sea Grant's research or extension faculty. In 2007, they delivered a total of 795 educational events, including presentations at scientific conferences, workshops organized by Sea Grant Extension faculty, marine science 4-H camps, K-12 teacher education events and international conferences.

As the figures (right) indicate, the activities are organized along at least one of Florida Sea Grant's goal areas, although the number of events in each goal area may vary. The principal areas of emphasis are marine education (41%), ecosystem health (19.6%), fisheries (12.6%), boating and waterways (10.4%) and aquaculture (8.3%).

When organized among the six principal stakeholders groups, about one-third of Sea Grant programs is delivered to the state's communities. About another quarter of our programs involve working with teachers and youth.


Few organizations have the breadth and depth of focus on multi-disciplinary marine and coastal issues statewide that Florida Sea Grant brings to the educational process. The following pages review how Sea Grant invests in the scientific and environmental education of the state's citizenry, a necessary step for the state to remain competitive in the national and world economy while conserving its coastal resources.