Draft Plan Posted for Comment!

A preliminary draft of the VASG strategic plan is now available for comment. We’d greatly appreciate your feedback on the draft. It consists of an introduction, vision, mission, and organizational information, followed by goals and objectives in four focus areas:

• Safe and Sustainable Seafood
• Healthy Coastal and Ocean Ecosystems
• Sustainable Community Development and Hazard Resilience
• Coastal and Ocean Literacy

The goals and objectives were created by  workgroups consisting of staff, researchers, and stakeholders in each topic area. The workgroups will continue to work on their sections, reviewing comments on this draft and making revisions.

The draft plan will be available for comment for the next four weeks. A second draft draft will be posted for a shorter public comment period, further consultation with VASG’s advisory committees will occur in June, and a final plan will be released in mid-to-late June.

You can submit comments in one of three ways:

1. Send an email to thartley@vims.edu
2. Post a comment to this blog entry
3. Respond to this open-ended online survey (allows anonymous responses)

VASG would like to thank all of you who have commented and contributed to this document to date. We are committed to hearing from our stakeholders and setting a strategic course for the next five years that is responsive to the needs and opportunities faced by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Workgroup Update: Fisheries and Aquaculture

Tidewater Oyster Gardeners Association board of directors were provided with a copy of the generic 4-page Virginia Sea Grant Strategic Planning document at their March 5 meeting.  Individuals were encouraged to provide input from the non-commercial oyster culture clientele.

Notes from listening session with VA Coastal Policy Team

VASG held a listening session as part of the Virginia Coastal Policy Team meeting agenda on Wednesday, Feb 18th.  The Virginia Coastal Policy Team is managed and chaired by the Virginia Coastal Program, and is comprised of coastal and marine staff from the state agencies, planning directors from the coastal planning district commissions, and staff from VIMS.  The Team meets quarterly and is attended by 35-40 participants.

Notes from ODU Listening Session

VASG held a listening session at Old Dominion University on Tuesday, Feb 17th.  Seventeen faculty, students, and staff attended.

Below are bulleted comments, in chronological order as they were raised and discussed by the group, although clustered by focus area.  Some topics were specific to VASG functions (extension and education, communication, or research activities), while others were broader and addressed issues and needs across our program.

We used this introductory presentation. Please consider filling out the one-page communication questionnaire that was administered at the listening session.

Workgroup Update: Fisheries and Aquaculture

The Tidewater Oyster Gardeners Association (TOGA), with over 295 paid members in 2009, is the largest non-commercial aquaculture organization in Virginia and all of Chesapeake Bay. Their membership is active in community education, habitat restoration, promoting non-commercial oyster culture and political activism.  The Board of Directors of this unique clientele group has been engaged to provide input into the VASG Strategic Planning process. They have been provided background information on the process, with specific information on the Safe, Sustainable Seafood Supply focus area.  Input has been solicited regarding their perception of pressing/emerging needs, research issues and direction, as well as communication products that would be of value to them in their efforts.  Follow-up will occur during the regularly scheduled March 5 Board of Directors meeting.

Workgroup Update: Fisheries and Aquaculture

Continuing in our workgroup efforts to solicit input from as broad a representation of our clientele as possible, a posting was made on the Virginia commercial shellfish growers list server managed by Virginia Sea Grant, Marine Extension Program.  The shellfish growers list server currently has over 100 subscribers, representing all the major shellfish culture businesses and many of the smaller mom-and-pop operations. 

The posting provided basic background information on the strategic planning process, with more specific information in the Safe, Sustainable Seafood Supply focus area.  It then solicited input from the shellfish culture industry on pressing/emerging needs, research issues, activities/services to address issues, as well as communication products to support these activities.  List members were encouraged to contribute to this planning process and follow the development of the Virginia Sea Grant Strategic Plan. 

Additional input on aquaculture issues will be solicited from other user groups, including non-commercial aquaculturists (e.g. oyster gardeners) and will be added to the data bank to be considered when the full workgroup meets.

Submitted by Mike Oesterling

Workgroup Update: Fisheries and Aquaculture

In order to attain essential feed back from Virginia’s highly diverse fishing industry, numerous members of the industry, who serve in varied capacities, are being contacted and phone interviews conducted. Participants thus far have included inshore and offshore fishermen as well as seafood dealers. Since the industry is so diverse, this outreach effort is necessary to augment the workgroup’s knowledge and ensure that important issues are not overlooked. Only through such holistic outreach efforts can Virginia Sea Grant proactively assess areas of concern and adequately respond to research needs. It is our hope that such inclusive approaches improve our ability to effectively preserve the Commonwealth’s marine resources and those who harvest them for our common benefit.  Interviews will continue in coming weeks and all input will be considered when the workgroup begins its meetings in early March.

Submitted by Chris Hager

Workgroup Update: Sustainable Coastal Development

The Sustainable Coastal Community Development workgroup has conducted a series of outreach meetings in the past month:.

1/21 Presented VASG Strategic Planning summary to Tidewater Marine Trades Assotiation (TMTA). The audience was interested in existing Coastal Community Development (CCD) efforts related to working waterfront retention, economic impact assessments, and new educational outreach in the area of sea level rise and storm preparation. VASG staff are now working on planning an initial workshop on coastal flooding prediction with TMTA and VASG.

2/3 Presented VASG Strategic Planning summary to Tidewater Resource Conservation & Development Council (Vision: “Prosperous Communities in Harmony with their Environment”). Twenty members attended, representing local and regional governments and various USDA-associated agencies. Most interest relates to linking land and water management and the broadening of local elected official education and shoreline management regimes.

2/11 Attended the State Hazard Mitigation Steering Committee meeting of the Virginia Emergency Management Agency. Met with the Education and Outreach Subcommittee and will represent VASG on same for initial period. Near term VASG objectives related to this are to determine unmet needs related to coastal flooding and related issues such as land subsidence: Identify target audiences/communities for coastal hazards awareness and education; create connection between VASG and existing Statewide Hazard Mitigaton Planning effort with focus on coastal flooding related issues.

Update submitted by Tom Murray.

Notes from VIMS Listening Session

VASG held its first open listening session to hear from stakeholders in the VIMS community yesterday, Feb 5th. It is the first of several that will take place around the state. Twenty people attended, comprised of faculty, program managers, staff, and students. Significant contributions were made to framing the VASG strategic plan.

We used this introductory presentation to frame the discussion and then opened the floor to comments about potential VASG work in each focus area. Participants were then asked to write comments or identify issues of particular concern on flip charts posted around the room listing topics within each focus area.

Meeting participants also filled out a short questionnaire about communication needs and products which you are encouraged to fill out here.

Workgroup update: Coastal and Ocean Literacy

The Coastal and Ocean Literacy Workgroup had its first meeting on Tuesday, February 3. We got lots of good input from group members that will help us in drafting our outline next week (eek!). Some highlights included great ideas for extending teacher workshops and training opportunities to informal educators and distance learners, identifying target audiences by working with the topic-oriented workgroups, funding research to demonstrate the value of outdoor education, and much, much more.

We thought other workgroups might find it helpful to see the meeting agenda and the introductory PowerPoint presentation we used to familiarize workgroup members with VASG and the planning process. If you’d like a version of the presentation you can edit, or one with a less education-themed photo, email Margaret P.