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

Industry Education
"Science Serving Florida's Coast" perhaps describes industry education as well as any of Florida Sea Grant's education programs. Teaching industry requires science-based information that is highly technical in nature and specifically targeted so businesses can better manage operations, develop new product lines, cut costs, increase revenues, or respond to yet another regulation. Examples include an annual shrimp school that draws the world's major shrimp companies; a workshop for oyster processors to learn the latest techniques to increase the safety of their products; or a marina operators' meeting designed to teach how to make their marina "clean" with no detrimental effect on coastal waters.

Marine Biotechnology
A comparatively young sector of Florida's overall biotechnology industry, marine biotechnology seeks to develop products and processes from the ocean's living resources through advanced cellular and molecular investigations. Florida Sea Grant is working to enhance both the immediate quality of and future funding base for research and education in marine biotechnology. By closely targeting leaders in academic research and economic development, Florida Sea Grant encourages decision making that enhances lines of investment and research. Ultimately, this will promote job growth, international economic competitiveness, and environmental benefits for the state.

For the academic community, William Seaman, professor and associate director of Florida Sea Grant, has initiated a series of marine biotechnology summits for scientists and their graduate students to build cohesion among Florida's faculty and students. Summits often feature out-of-state keynote speakers, a commercialization panel, poster sessions, laboratory site visits, and plenary scientific presentations. Attendees have repeatedly praised the emphasis on science and the opportunity for technical networking that these gatherings afford, and continue to support them with increased turnout. From the group of 15 that convened the initial summit, attendance has risen steadily, from 45 to 74 in subsequent years. In 2004, the prestigious BIOFlorida trade association invited the fourth summit to be held in conjunction with its annual meeting. Attendance was 430, a new high for both meetings.

The relationship with BIOFlorida provides an important link to industry professionals, both for developing cooperation between faculty and industry, and for informing industry leaders about the opportunities for funding, application and commercialization of discoveries. Sea Grant participated in the founding organizational committee for BIOFlorida, and is represented on its current board of directors. In addition to the joint 2004 meetings, Florida Sea Grant has organized sessions on marine biotechnology for two previous BIOFlorida annual meetings.

Educating with Economics
Florida Sea Grant has a long track record of supporting the state's marine industries by providing essential economic information through a one-two combination of research and extension. In fact, Florida hired one of the first extension marine economists in the entire Sea Grant network (1973), and has maintained this as a major program element ever since. Researchers and Sea Grant extension economist Chuck Adams, a professor of food and resource economics at the University of Florida, work hand-in-hand to identify high priority needs for research, and then feed the research results back to industry leaders in a form they can use.

In recent years, Sea Grant's economists have analyzed the costs and returns from a zero-water exchange shrimp aquaculture demonstration in Nicaragua; summarized domestic and international market trends for the state's growing marine ornamental species industry; and assisted Florida's commercial shrimpers with their application for financial relief granted by the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance program. The ongoing baseline economics research Sea Grant generates for the hard clam, scallop, and recreational fishing industry sectors, among others, gives trade groups, potential investors, and managers the science-based information they need to make decisions that provide for the sustainable use of Florida's marine resources.

Fact-Finding Capacity
Due to its reputation as an "honest broker" of information, Florida Sea Grant often coordinates fact-finding projects and meetings that bring together the fishing industry, scientists, and resource managers to discuss the current state of a fishery, as well as its future research needs. In 2002, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission asked Florida Sea Grant to collect opinions and information from stakeholders in the blue crab industry as the commission pondered changes to an existing permit moratorium. Florida Sea Grant used its network of county extension faculty to hold 16 workshops for more than 200 individuals. Extension faculty learned the industry had concerns about what should replace the moratorium, and trap and license limitations, but supported stronger measures to reduce poaching and environmental degradation. The report served as the basis for a subsequent set of public hearings in 2003.

Identifying Research Needs
Spiny lobsters are important to both commercial and recreational fishermen in the Florida Keys, yet the fishery is undergoing major changes from regulation and waterfront development. Florida Sea Grant has supported the lobster fishery in the Keys for the past 30 years through research and extension education. A 2003 workshop organized by Doug Gregory, Monroe County Extension Director and Sea Grant agent, provided the opportunity for collaborations between scientists and fishermen on current research projects and future research needs. More than 100 attended, including about 50 spiny lobster fishermen and a number of scientists who reported results of Florida Sea Grant funded research on the species. About 85 percent of attendees considered the workshop a success and indicated they would like to see similar workshops in the future on other species.

Helping Clam Growers
One notable outcome of Florida's 1994 ban on gill net fishing has been the birth and growth of an economically viable cultured hard clam industry. Florida Sea Grant has partnered with government agencies and industry leaders to provide business management training, nursery technology and seafood safety techniques for growers. Florida's cultured hard clam industry now annually generates nearly $34 million in output, $9 million in labor income and $12 million in value added.

Together with county-based Sea Grant extension faculty, Chuck Adams and Leslie Sturmer have held dozens of educational programs and workshops for shellfish farmers throughout the state. Emphasis has been on growout production technology, seed production, product quality, marketing, water quality and organizational development - integral elements of management strategies that result in profitable, sustainable production of hard clams in Florida.

Sturmer and Adams have been instrumental in obtaining sanctions to allow hard clam growers to qualify for USDA crop insurance - the first eligibility of its kind for marine aquaculture in the United States. They have also developed a user-friendly software program that lets growers track clams from the original seed purchase, through nursery/grow-out, planting, to final harvest, accounting for operating expenses and capital purchases.

Aquaculture and Marine Ornamentals
The commercial aquaculture industry in Florida continues to grow in economic importance and diversity. Florida Sea Grant is providing technical assistance to support the sustainable growth of this industry, internationally as well as statewide. More species are aquacultured in Florida than any other U.S. state, and the rising industry is now valued at about $100 million. Most of that value comes from the culture of freshwater ornamental fish, but a growing marine aquaculture sector is becoming more visible and attractive to potential investors.

Chuck Adams has teamed with researchers Donna Lee and Sherry Larkin, both in the University of Florida's Food and Resource Economics Department, to provide industry groups, potential investors, and fisheries managers with research on the value of the marine ornamental species industry in Florida and an evaluation of international trade in live species. Florida Sea Grant was also one of the sponsors for Marine Ornamentals '04, the third in a series of international conferences for the marine ornamentals industry to meet and discuss issues critical to its future. In 2001, Florida Sea Grant was the lead sponsor and organizer. In between, Florida Sea Grant Director Jim Cato, having served on the organizing committee for all three international conferences to date, co-edited Marine Ornamental Species: Collection, Culture and Conservation. This book is the most comprehensive resource available on the growing and economically important marine ornamental industry.

Seafood Safety
Food safety training for the nation's seafood industry ranks among the most successful extension education undertakings in Sea Grant history. More than 20,000 people have completed HACCP (pronounced HASS-ip) courses, including all federal FDA seafood inspectors in the nation, most statebased inspectors and over 90 percent of all nationally based seafood processing firms, plus another 5,000 international participants from 30 nations. HACCP, which stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, describes a series of food-preparation procedures that promote the safe and sanitary processing and importing of seafood. Federal regulations require all U.S. seafood importers and processors to implement a HACCP system.

To help the industry comply, the National Sea Grant Program, federal agencies, trade associations, university researchers, and extension services formed the National Seafood HACCP Alliance in 1995 to develop a training and technical assistance curriculum. The program was organized by and continues to be coordinated by Florida Sea Grant seafood safety specialist Steve Otwell, a professor of food science and nutrition at the University of Florida.

The training now includes the traditional 3-day HACCP courses, 1 1/2-day sanitation courses taught biannually in Florida, and a special one-day support course taught for individuals that complete an established Internet course developed by Alliance members at Cornell University. The Alliance publications used for this training are based at and distributed from the University of Florida, coordinated by the Florida Sea Grant program. These training materials are the most successful and demanded of Sea Grant publications.

Seafood HACCP training remains the national program for seafood processing and importing in the U.S. and has become a world standard for food safety. Recently, the protocol was adopted by U.S. processors of juice products. The HACCP program has also received presidential recognition, including the Al Gore Hammer Award in 2000 for excellence in service to America. Otwell's leadership of the HACCP Alliance - and a consequence of the program's success - is his recognition by the Institute of Food Technologies in 2004 as the first recipient of the Myron Solberg Award for providing leadership and the successful development and continuation of an industry/ government/academia cooperative organization.

U.S. consumers are eating more shrimp than ever, but increased imports of farmed shrimp have sent earnings of U.S. shrimpers to historic lows. Imports now supply as much as 85 percent of the U.S. market, and many domestic harvesters are facing bankruptcy. Florida Sea Grant coordinated a series of 16 trade assistance workshops to Florida's shrimp fleet through the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance program. To receive the program's cash benefits, producers had to attend one of the workshops for technical assistance and training. Sea Grant extension economist Chuck Adams provided the economic analysis that qualified shrimpers for the benefits; seafood specialists and 13 Sea Grant extension faculty coordinated delivery of the workshops. Adams also provides technical support to the industry through timely presentations. In a recent conference on international agricultural trade disputes attended by policymakers, industry groups, and trade lawyers, Adams examined the use of trade barriers, import quotas, and import tariffs to relieve the plight of U.S. shrimp fishermen. (Tara Piasio, UF/IFAS)