Sea Grant Recognizes Law Center as a Long-term Component of National Program

October 17, 2019

Silver Spring, MD – Sea Grant is pleased to announce the designation of the National Sea Grant Law Center (Law Center) as a “coherent area program.” This designation elevates the Law Center from a temporary Sea Grant project to a more permanent component of the National Sea Grant College Program. The designation is also in recognition of the Law Center’s excellence in providing valuable legal analysis and research in support of informed decisions to the Sea Grant network and its partners.

“The Sea Grant Law Center plays a key role in helping us support well-being and economies of coastal and Great Lakes communities. Sea Grant works to provide positive impacts to the communities in which we work. Many times, legal research that explains regulatory landscapes, for example, is combined with scientific research findings and targeted outreach to help communities find solutions to challenges they are facing,” said Jonathan Pennock, Director of the National Sea Grant College Program. “I’m pleased that we are able to make the Law Center a more permanent component of our overall program.”

Since becoming a Sea Grant project in 2002, the Law Center has specialized in offering the following: (1) integrating the efforts of ocean and coastal law researchers in the Sea Grant network nationwide; (2) conducting research on current ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes law issues; (3) providing outreach and advisory services to the Sea Grant network and coastal constituents; (4) disseminating information and analysis through periodic workshops and conferences as well as publications, and (5) serving as a focal point for Sea Grant’s law related issues, and promoting the growth and development of a Sea Grant legal network.

The Sea Grant Law Center is a national center that coordinates and enhances Sea Grant’s activities in legal scholarship and outreach related to coastal and ocean law issues. Attorneys at the Law Center analyze and report on current issues, educate policy makers, practitioners, students and the public about marine resource policy issues, and fill research requests from the legal community, Sea Grant College Programs and government agencies.

The Law Center is part of the broader Sea Grant Legal Network, which in addition to the Sea Grant Law Center, includes legal professionals based at individual Sea Grant programs working on more local or regional issues across the Sea Grant network.

Learn more about the work of the Law Center at http://nsglc.olemiss.edu/ or https://seagrant.noaa.gov/Program-Locations/lawcenter

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