• 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.

• Climate change, adaptation – conducting the mapping and research to understand what’s under threat at the local scale in Virginia’s coastal region.
• Impacts of climate change on coastal wetlands and coastal community infrastructure.
• Offshore energy – mapping uses along the coast and ocean, e.g., fishing activity, benthic ecology, turtle migration, bird migration pathways, bat movements offshore.
• Water quality – wastewater treatment infrastructure, marine debris.

Needs identified specifically for VASG, during our section of the agenda:

Sustainable coastal development

• Water quantity, drinking water in the coastal zone
• Cumulative, aggregate impacts of regulatory requirements on local governments

Participants also identified other specific resources and information sources that might be constructive for VASG to review during its strategic planning activities, including:

• The Coastal Program has made a considerable investment in mapping and database serving (coastal GEMS).  They are working with various partners (e.g., TNC, VIMS) to expand GEMS off-shore.
• The Nature Conservancy held a climate change workshop regarding the impacts of the seaside, pulling together scientists from VIMS and others to identify specific impacts on the seaside of Virginia.  The report will be done by spring, and a management implication workshop will be held thereafter in April/May.

VASG is extremely grateful to Laura McKay with the VA Coastal Program and the entire VA Coastal Policy Team for dedicating time on their busy agenda to VASG. We thank them for their helpful and enlightened comments.  We look forward to holding more listening sessions around the state and continuing to hear about the interests, needs and concerns of VASG’s constituents and stakeholders.

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.

Gaps and/or emerging issues mentioned during open discussion included:

Safe and sustainable seafood

• Seafood certification programs – communication to the public, research, market development, inform the public as to what seafood choices are the best, best management practices for shellfish aquaculture that lead to certification.  Technical assistance for industry seeking certifications.

Healthy coastal ecosystems

• Climate change/adaptation – natural partnership with TNC surrounding planning for sea level rise.
• Ocean acidification and warming – specific issues of concern from climate change.
• Storms – intensity changes, storm surges, etc.
• Algal blooms.

Coastal and ocean literacy

• Communicating science to non-scientists:  Consider partnerships with organizations that connect with a high volume of non-scientists (e.g., visitors at Virginia Aquarium, Natural Living Museum).
• Focus on actual use of electronic education tools (e.g., Bridge).  How is it used by teachers?  What are the on-the-ground, implementation realities associated with teaching marine sciences in the standardized testing environment?

Further discussion centered on how to achieve the greatest impact and highest relevance from VASG’s research funding:

• Focus on a larger number of smaller awards ($20-30K) targeted to newer faculty, with new ideas and developing new lines of research.  Assisting new faculty establish themselves and obtain the critical background data and findings to launch successful proposals for larger amounts of funding from other sources.
• Grow the available competitive research fund within VASG – adjust percentage of funding between extension and research; partner with other funders to pool resources.
• Grad-student only awards, to leverage other funding – in fact, most felt that VASG research funding is already being used this way, adding funds to existing research programs that get the bulk of their research funding from other sources.

In addition to an open discussion and a communication questionnaire, the listening session included a review of the existing list of issues and needs identified from past meetings (i.e., both the current strengths of VASG and additional issues, needs and concerns for coastal and marine communities in Virginia).  Participants visited flip charts arranged around the room, added comments or additional issues, and identified their preferences for particularly important and significant issues.

Below is a list of items that were highlighted as particularly important among the topic areas, issues and/or needs previously identified (see the strategic planning handout for the complete list).

Safe and sustainable seafood supply

• Commercial and recreational fisheries and aquaculture
• Aquaculture operations and impacts

Healthy coastal ecosystem

• Land-watershed-estuarine-marine interactions
• Algal blooms and their impacts
• Submerged aquatic vegetation
• Chesapeake Bay and ocean observing systems
• Ecosystem threats from climate change
• Integrated management
• Eutrophication – changing nutrient landscape, superimpose climate change variables
• Fisheries management
• Ecosystem stewardship
• Bay and tributary habitat restoration
• Energy infrastructure and management
• Invasive species

Sustainable coastal development

• Water quality – research and development of best management practices
• Research on effectiveness of Best Management Practices
• Translation of the best available science through extension, education and communication materials

Hazard and community resilience in coastal communities

• Implications of sea level rise, and tidal, wave and storm surges.

VASG would like to thank all those who participated in this Listening Session.  We look forward to holding more around the state and continuing to hear about the interests, needs and concerns of VASG’s constituents and stakeholders.

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

Submitted by Chris Hager

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.

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.

Gaps and/or emerging issues raised during open discussion:
Below are bulleted comments, clustered by focus area and in rough chronological order as they were raised and discussed by the group. Some topics were specific to a particular VASG function (extension and education, communication, or research activities), while others were broader and addressed issues and needs across our program.

Safe and sustainable seafood

• Seafood certification programs – communication to the public, research, market development, inform the public as to what seafood choices are the best, best management practices for shellfish aquaculture that lead to certification
• Oyster restoration – facilitate development of enterprise zones, defining appropriate places for restoration and aquaculture.
• Research on fishing industry business model options – what’s the viable, new fishing industry business model in world of limited access and thus little opportunity to shift from fishery to fishery.

Sustainable coastal development and hazard resilience

• Applicability of physical sciences to all strategic plan focus areas – especially for topics under sustainable coastal development, including tourism, ports, working waterfronts.
• Leverage funding/partnership opportunities:
  • VA Climate Commission – monitoring implementation and progress. Leverage with foundation sources.
  • National Climate Service, if created, will need local extension agents to distribute products and communicte messages.
• Track and synthesize emerging state strategies for addressing climate change (esp. energy strategies)
• Technical assistance (extension) to local communities on climate change
  • Tools for conducting risk analysis and proactive planning for sea level rise. Be more proactive instead of reactive with respect to coastal planning. Assess risk factors and frequency of flooding due to sea level rise and help local officials incorporate into planning.
• Research on land-owner scale Bay ecosystem health mitigation measures.
  • Synthesize research for communication and extension to land owners
• Education, outreach to public officials about how to plan for changing futures
• Insurance companies and planners – facilitate interactions and presentations on how risk models work and the how to calculate the full economic considerations.
• Science, research underlying climate change/weather forecasting models
• Dispute resolution and conflict management services to local government officials.

Healthy coastal ecosystems

• Healthy coastal ecosystems – develop indicators and monitoring protocols for a healthy ecosystem. Take into account that systems are always changing (i.e. shifting baselines).
  • How can we enable accountability when it comes to achieving these goals? How can we synthesize the results of a variety of restoration/research/monitoring projects and come up with an assessment of what works best?
• Where is the appropriate place for SG research funding in long-term monitoring efforts, e.g., observing system projects—maintenance, applications, etc.

Coastal and ocean literacy

• Continue to be involved with new GK-12 project starting at VIMS to make connections between grad students and classroom educators. Pursue joint educational opportunities with partner institutions.

In addition to an open discussion and a communication questionnaire, the listening session included a review of the existing list of issues and needs identified from past meetings (i.e., both the current strengths of VASG and additional issues, needs and concerns for coastal and marine communities in Virginia). Participants visited flip charts arranged around the room, added comments or additional issues, and identified their preferences for particularly important and significant issues.

Below is a list of items that were highlighted as particularly important among the topic areas, issues and/or needs previously identified (see the strategic planning handout for the complete list).

• Healthy coastal ecosystems
  • Algal blooms and their impacts
  • Interdisciplinary and collaborative research
  • Socioecon., policy and management and legal studies of ecosystem based management
    strategies and tools, and the wide array of healthy coastal ecosystem topics.

• Coastal and ocean literacy
  • Online resources (ie BRIDGE)
  • Scientists’ communication to non scientists

• Safe, sustainable seafood supply
  • Commercial and recreational fisheries and aquaculture
  • Fisheries and protected species; habitat and behavior
  • Gear research and bycatch reduction
  • Safe production and distribution linked to emerging pathogens and environmental conditions
  • Socioecon. and policy studies
  • Informed chefs and restaurant industry

• Sustainable coastal development
  • Commercial and recreationsal fishing and boating
  • Socioecon. resilience and decision-making tools
  • Public access and working waterfronts
  • Clean marina initiatives
  • Socioecon, policy and management and legal studies
  • Resolution and management of user conflicts
  • Translation of science through workshops, white papers, articles, and communication products (as a VASG communication product and service)
  • Special topic forums

• Resilience in coastal communities
  • Tidal, wave, and sea level rise
  • Coastal community risks, vulnerabilities, resilience, and change management

VASG would like to thank all those that participated in this Listening Session. We look forward to holding more around the state and continuing to hear about the interests, needs and concerns of VASG’s constituents and stakeholders.

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.