Guam is entirely coastal and residents’ actions directly impact what flows into surrounding waters. This is particularly important because the northern region of the island is home to a limestone aquifer that supplies 80% of the island’s drinking water. Guam Sea Grant initiated a project called Builders of a Better Bay to help students understand the extent to which upland activities affect the ocean, and to create more research opportunities for students to collect turbidity and water level data in rivers within the watershed.

From 2013 to 2015, as part of a larger education initiative, Guam Sea Grant helped standardize watershed education in the national school system, reaching approximately 2,400 K-12 students.

In 2016, Guam Sea Grant piloted a Turtle Education Outreach Internship to expose undergraduate students to natural resource or science-related careers. During the program, interns received 84 hours of job shadowing and training, and presented what they learned about sea turtles to 1,683 public school students and teachers in 53 classroom sessions in 12 schools.

Additionally, interns must implement an outreach activity as part of their research project—and in the past year their events have reached an additional 217 youth, snorkelers, scuba divers, weekend science enthusiasts, and field trip attendees. Examples of these outreach activities include introductions to snorkeling, fishing, and interactive workshops focused on learning about marine ecosystems.

Sea Grant invests in locally relevant graduate student research. Since 2014, Guam Sea Grant funded nine University of Guam Sea Grant Fellows pursuing research on algae, rabbitfish toxicity, coral reproduction, marine preserve areas, and freshwater eels. Their research has potential applications in ensuring local seafood safety, identifying invasive marine species, assessing coral health, restoring coral reefs, and improving fisheries management. These research topics are informed by priorities expressed by local stakeholders.