New Hampshire’s Great Bay estuary. (File photo by Amanda Gokee/New Hampshire Bulletin)
While Congress has not yet made its funding decisions on the federal budget for the current year, we are concerned that the new administration’s efforts to coarsely slash budgets and eliminate grants means eliminating federal funding for Sea Grant, which was also proposed in 2017-2020.
Ultimately, with bipartisan support in Congress, Sea Grant funding was restored over that period, and New Hampshire Sea Grant was able to continue its important community-driven work.
As one of the 34 Sea Grant programs, each year New Hampshire receives a portion of the annual appropriation to Sea Grant, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). We are hopeful that support from U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan and U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas is communicated clearly to their fellow elected officials in order to allow New Hampshire Sea Grant to continue its important work in the coming years.
What’s so important, so significant, about New Hampshire Sea Grant, which is based at the University of New Hampshire? It’s not a big program, and not well known. Nevertheless New Hampshire Sea Grant works with fishermen and small businesses, through cooperative extension and workforce development and research, and through education in local schools, to support a coastal region that sustains healthy ecosystems, economies, and people. We need that work to continue.
Our New Hampshire Sea Grant Program partners with fishermen, aquaculture entrepreneurs, and oyster harvesters.
The research university and Sea Grant experiment with new solutions, and in doing so accept risks small businesses cannot afford to take. Hundreds of fishermen, seafood processing, and aquaculture businesspeople have benefitted from knowledge gained in fisheries sustainability and seafood safety as a result of Sea Grant activities.
The innovative “Aquafort” was designed by Sea Grant researchers to grow steelhead trout, mussels, and kelp together and sustainably — creating a way for small-scale growers or any fishermen and lobstermen to add to their income. Oyster farms brought over 800,000 oysters to market in 2023. (If each was sold in a New Hampshire restaurant, that would have meant over $136,000 in state room and meals tax revenue … from oysters alone!)
New Hampshire Sea Grant has involved and prepared over 600 New Hampshire teachers.
These educators ultimately reached over 12,000 students in K-12 classrooms to provide hands-on learning experiences about the marine environment. Marine Docent volunteers have prepared videos and other virtual “to-go” resources that teachers can incorporate into their lesson plans.
Sea Grant’s research and technical assistance are essential to coastal welfare.
Addressing the risks from increased storm surge and sea level rise is very complex, yet local leaders, who know their small communities well, nevertheless have limited access to technical, financial, and human resources to deal with the complex challenges confronting the welfare of their communities.
I co-chaired the 2013-2018 Coastal Risks and Hazards Commission, charged to develop recommendations to address coastal risks knowing that New Hampshire’s coastal watershed is home to over 25% of the state’s population. Resilience crosses economic, social, and environmental boundaries. Sea Grant’s research, technical assistance, and outreach are essential to preserving ecosystems services (the benefits to people from natural systems such as marshes and dunes) and safe-guarding and adapting waterfront jobs and economies are key to strengthening community resilience.
In addition, the Coastal Landowner Technical Assistance Program provides technical assistance to interested coastal landowners to help understand potential risks and opportunities to increase resilience on their properties.
I cannot overstate the value Sea Grant brings to New Hampshire with respect to resilient communities and economies, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, healthy coastal ecosystems, environmental literacy, and workforce development. I encourage students, local leaders, businesses, and state representatives to learn more by visiting New Hampshire Sea Grant online and through Facebook and Instagram. And write to our senators and congressman in Washington.