Virginia Sea Grant works to enhance the sustainability and viability of coastal communities through economic and social science research as well as extension activities. The coastal community development program within VIMS Marine Advisory services department conducts economic analyses and supports coastal industries such as marinas, boating, seafood, and tourism.
Extension projects include:
Two Virginia Sea Grant Law Fellows will be working with the Virginia Coastal Policy Clinic (VCPC) this summer. The fellows will assist VCPC Director Shana Jones in preparing and presenting policy memos to the Virginia coastal localities of Norfolk and Poquoson and coordinating the conference, Adaptive Planning for Flooding and Coastal Change in Virginia: Legal [...]
The Virginia Coastal Policy Clinic is a partnership between William & Mary Law School and Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) that allows students to learn about coastal science and policy while addressing issues facing Virginia coastal communities.
How do we get scientific innovations to the people who need them? Dr. Dale Manty of the EPA recently shared his thoughts on sustainability and innovation as a Visiting Scholar Seminar Speaker.
As aquaculture efforts expand in Virginia and Maryland, the potential for use conflicts between aquaculture and other uses of the Bay is also growing. The goal of this project is to update a model that maps preferred areas for aquaculture development. In addition, a map viewer will be developed to allows managers to monitor and [...]
Virginia’s shellfish growers sold 28.1 million oysters and 171 million clams in 2012, according to an annual survey of shellfish aquaculture operations in the state. Those numbers represent a 21 percent increase in oyster sales, while clam sales have remained fairly stable over the past few years.
The “Virginia Shellfish Aquaculture Situation and Outlook Report” has been produced annually by
The National Working Waterfronts Network (NWWN) website has been expanded to include case studies, a searchable financing database, economic analysis, law and policy tools, and a historical overview of waterfront trends, all designed to help communities across the U.S. share problems and solutions for managing and improving their local waterfront infrastructure.
Congressman Frank R. Wolf of Virginia’s 10th district received a Special Recognition Award for his exemplary support of the National Sea Grant College Program.
Virginia Sea Grant Extension partners will present the findings of their efforts to map and prioritize working waterfronts in Virginia and Maryland at the nation’s third Working Waterfronts Conference this March. The session “A Case Study on Successful Research and Extension in the Chesapeake Bay” will be lead by Extension Leader and Virginia Institute of Marine Science Economist Tom Murray.
An impressive lineup of law, policy, and science experts will spoke on March 15 and 16 at the Virginia Chesapeake Coastal Law & Policy Symposium. The Symposium was organized by the students in William & Mary Law School’s Environmental Law Society, Environmental Law and Policy Review and the new Coastal Policy Clinic and will form the [...]
Virginia Sea Grant is proud to have entered a partnership with William & Mary Law School’s new Virginia Coastal Policy Clinic (VCPC). The VCPC offers law students the opportunity to work with leading Virginia scientists and develop solutions for some of the most challenging environmental questions facing policymakers today. Examining issues ranging from property rights to [...]
Documenting the docks, facilities, and ramps available for coastal businesses in VA and MD requires perseverance and persistence—and a car.
Access to the water is shrinking as historic access points become restricted, fall apart, or get sold. But before Virginia’s localities can start prioritizing and preserving working waterfronts, they need to know where these sites are.
A new “enterprise budget” for Virginia’s oyster aquaculture industry aims to help lenders and potential aquaculturists better understand what goes into a successful oyster-growing business. The oyster crop budgets consist of a set of spreadsheets that allow users to estimate costs and earnings, along with a manual to help guide users through the spreadsheets. Enterprise budgets are widely used for traditional farm crops to help farmers and their investors make business decisions.
As Superstorm Sandy barreled up the East Coast at the end of October, a group of planners, administrators, engineers, emergency managers, and scientists in Hampton Roads found themselves in the strange position of postponing a meeting about flooding due to the threat of impending flooding.
What do kings’ grants, imperialism, and British common law have to do with climate change? A group of lawyers, legal scholars, historians, and scientists came together to discuss them all at “History, Property, and Climate Change in the Former Colonies,” a symposium held in the Moot Courtroom at Washington and Lee Law School.
As a Knauss Fellow in the National Sea Grant Office (NSGO), one of my primary duties is as coordinator for the Sustainable Coastal Development and the Hazard Resilient Coastal Communities Focus Areas. That means that I develop conferences, discussions, and seminars relating to coastal community issues and that
Seeing — and listening — really does equal believing when it comes to public understanding of the sea-level rise that threatens communities along the Chesapeake Bay. That’s the finding of a recent experiment that tested an interactive, online map and other new ways of showing Marylanders who live by the Bay just how real may be the threat of increased coastal flooding from rising seas.
VASG-funded researcher John Boon and his team have added forecasts to their tide monitoring website, giving residents of the lower Chesapeake Bay region a new tool for gauging the magnitude of coastal flooding in a given location and minimizing its potential impacts.
Two speakers joined us in Spring 2012 to discuss wind energy. Jeremy Firestone is a professor in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment and the Director of the Center for Carbon-free Power Integration, University of Delaware. Firestone has published, presented, and taught extensively on offshore wind power, ocean and coastal law, and international environmental policy.
Atlantic City already generates some wind energy on land, but a fishermen-led effort may bring a wind farm three miles off the coast, as well.
