Mission Statement
USC Sea Grant Program
Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies
University of Southern California
Sea Grant's Strategic Plan 2009-2013
The Sea Grant Program at the University of Southern California has served the Southern California coastal region since 1972, funding research, transferring results to government agencies and user groups, and providing information about marine resources, recreation and education to the public. Sea Grant research and outreach projects have covered a broad spectrum of areas, with particular emphasis on topics related to the "Urban Ocean," USC Sea Grant's thematic focus.
Competition for coastal resources -- for ports and harbors, coastal recreation, fisheries, petroleum, waste and sewage disposal, and others -- generates a need for accurate and timely information on which sound management decisions can be based. USC Sea Grant supports projects addressing the issues and opportunities of Los Angeles and other metropolitan areas near, using, and benefiting from the sea. In many cases, project results can be applied to other cities facing similar urban resource and management issues.
USC Sea Grant sponsors research projects concerned with a variety of topics. Our research emphasis on the urban ocean has yielded important information about sewage disposal at sea, particularly from the White's Point Sewage Outfall off the Palos Verdes peninsula, the presence and survival of viruses in the coastal ocean, the planning issues associated with the expansion of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and topics associated with marine recreation and tourism, among many others.
To extend the findings of our research, USC Sea Grant provides information to the public, government, business and academia through our Outreach Services. Staffed by professionals in both marine policy and natural science, we sponsor workshops and conferences, provide curriculum materials for marine education, foster minority education in the sciences, write and publish a variety of outreach documents about marine topics and translate the results of scientific research into terms useful to the Southern California community.
There is a complementary Sea Grant program in California, housed at the University of California's Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California.
Sea Grant Research and Outreach
K-12 Education
For more information about USC Sea Grant, or for a catalog of available materials please contact the Sea Grant Office in the Allan Hancock Foundation on the USC Campus
USC Sea Grant
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0373
(213) 740-1961
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