Southeast/Gulf/Caribbean Region

Florida Sea Grant
Sea Grant leads Florida clam farms to national prominence

• Hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria) aquaculture is a Florida Sea Grant priority.
• A Sea Grant study valued the state's hard clam industry at $13 million.  
• Working with industry, the Florida Division of Aquaculture, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency, Florida Sea Grant is guiding the state's hard clam industry to lead the nation in production.
• Sea Grant guidance has led to the first USDA policies for marine aquaculture in the United States. 
• In addition, Sea Grant has provided software and training to refine Florida aquaculture farmers' business record keeping and facilitate day-to-day business decisions.

Georgia Sea Grant
Sea Grant responds to natural disasters

• In the spring of 2002, the rapid death of vegetation led to the loss of approximately 1,000 acres of salt marshes in coastal Georgia.
• The Georgia Coastal Research Council (GCRC), funded by Georgia Sea Grant, NOAA and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, responded immediately to the marsh dieback, organizing scientists, managers throughout the state, and volunteer monitors.
• More than 20 investigators from various organizations and universities have contributed to a research database that is available to the public.
• The goal of the GCRC is to improve the exchange of unbiased information between scientists and decision makers.
• In October 2006, the GCRC arranged for a meeting of involved scientists to compile data in order to develop scientifically-sound management strategies if the marsh die back should recur.

Louisiana Sea Grant
Sea Grant provides vital flood insurance information to communities

• The Louisiana Sea Grant Legal Program has expanded its series of fact sheets to help people affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita navigate Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) programs and related legal issues during the rebuilding process.
• The latest installment is “How to Help Your Community Keep Its National Flood Insurance Program and Disaster Assistance.”
• The one-page guide provides information on the possible consequences for residents of communities that do not enforce floodplain management regulations.
• It and other program materials are available online at www.lsu.edu/sglegal and www.laseagrant.org. The series seeks to answer questions about the National Flood Insurance Program, flood elevations, rebuilding after a flood and other reconstruction matters.

Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant
Sea Grant educates citizens to remove marine debris and to prevent further accumulation

• The Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium distributed marine debris brochures, public service announcements, and sponsored a Coastal Cleanup event with free trash buckets to change the debris disposal behavior of coastal citizens.
• The volume of trash and its negative impact decreased as citizen awareness increased through Sea Grant efforts.

Puerto Rico Sea Grant
Sea Grant TV program wins four Emmy Awards

• The Puerto Rico Sea Grant-sponsored television program, GeoAmbiente, won four Emmys at the Suncoast Chapter's annual Emmy awards night. 
• The awards were presented at the gala event held at the Eden Roc Resort and Spa in Miami Beach on Saturday, December 2, 2006.
• Suncoast is a regional chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences which is dedicated to excellence in television.
• GeoAmbiente and its producer, Maria Falcon, won Emmys for the coastal and marine-resources related programs Corales de Culebra: En Agonia (Corals in Culebra: In Agony), Rio Cubuy: Ecoturismo en Potencia, (Cubuy River: Potential for Ecotourism) and Punta Guaniquilla: Paisaje Natural Unico (Point Guaniquilla: A Unique Natural Landscape).  
• Puerto Rico Sea Grant sponsors GeoAmbiente by providing underwater photos and video and suggesting themes and expert contacts as well as serves as a technical resource.  GeoAmbiente, which airs weekly on WIPR, Puerto Rico’s television station affiliated with PBS, is a key resource for information about the wise use and conservation of coastal and marine resources in Puerto Rico.

South Carolina Sea Grant
Sea Grant mounts broad offensive on invasive species

• South Carolina Sea Grant and partners are addressing the threat of invasive species through the Winyah Bay Focus Area Taskforce.
• The taskforce identified five new major invasive species: common reed, beach Vitex, giant reed, alligatorweed and water hyacinth.
• The taskforce also determined the geographical extent of the invasive plants; developed action management plans for control; conducted demonstration projects to compare specific chemical controls; developed a cost-share program for landowners to conduct control programs; and, held symposia on the latest biology and control information.
• As a result, several beach-front communities adopted ordinances to control invasives. In addition, two species-specific taskforces were formed, and several taskforces combined into the regional Carolinas Beach Taskforce.
• Other Winyah Bay Taskforce members and Sea Grant partners include Clemson University, the Nature Conservancy, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, the University of South Carolina, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and private industry and landowners.

Texas Sea Grant
Sea Grant develops an alternative to remote sensing to monitor shallow bays

• Texas Sea Grant researchers imported Dataflow, a cutting edge environmental monitoring technology from Florida for the collection of high-resolution spatial data.
• The inexpensive, rapid and reliable technology uses ship-board, flow-through sensors to collect GPS-linked data while the ship runs tight transects on the bays.
• The technology provides scientists with an alternative to remote sensing for data collection in shallow water environments.
• The advantages of the Dataflow technology over remote sensing includea higher accuracy because the output of its algorithms is more reliable in shallow water.  A continuous time series of samples over wide expanses of water provides a more comprehensive picture of water quality related to habitat type than is possible using discrete sampling. 
• Additionally, the relatively lower cost of operations permits running the same transects at intervals of days or weeks.