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	Sea Grant coastal processes specialist Jim O’Connell (center) introduces middle and high school teachers to a beach and dune profiling method—developed by WHOI geologist K.O. Emery—at a 2005 Topics in Oceanography workshop, a collaboration of Sea Grant with WHOI Academic Programs and the WHOI Exhibit Center. (Photo by Jayne Doucette, WHOI)
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	WHOI biologist Rebecca Gast, left, is working with Marine Biological Laboratory pathologist Roxanna Smolowitz to screen sediments, water, algae, and invertebrates to determine the environmental source of the QPX (quahog parasite unknown) disease organism. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, WHOI)
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	WHOI biologist Simon Thorrold’s ground-breaking research on fish otoliths (ear bones) as natural tags to reconstruct temperature histories and seawater chemistry shed light on the larval dispersal patterns of pelagic fish. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, WHOI)
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	» WHOI Sea Grant Program » Coastal Training Program » Beachcomber’s Companion » WHOI Sea Grant www.marinecareers.net » Academic Programs » New England Centers of Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (NE-COSEE)

The Woods Hole Sea Grant Program is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s national Sea Grant network of 32 programs. Collectively, Sea Grant promotes cooperation between government, academia, industry, scientists, and the private sector to foster science-based decisions leading to better understanding, conservation, and use of coastal resources.

More than half of Woods Hole Sea Grant’s annual budget of $1 million supports multi-year research projects in environmental technology, estuarine and coastal processes, and fisheries and aquaculture, as well as smaller, “new initiative” grants. Sea Grant research addresses local and regional needs, and many projects have national or even global implications.

In 2005, Sea Grant-supported 26 investigators at WHOI and other institutions who researched the population structure of important commercial fish species, harmful algal blooms, larval dispersal, distribution and settlement patterns, the development of a novel pattern recognition system to classify benthic habitats, metal accumulation in sewage, shellfish diseases, and groundwater transport of nutrients.

More than one-third of Woods Hole Sea Grant’s budget is dedicated to research translation, outreach, and education. Sea Grant reaches its audience through one-on-one advice, training programs, publications, Web sites, workshops, and lectures.

Many Sea Grant outreach programs involve partnerships, such as with the Barnstable County Cooperative Extension Service, to provide technical expertise and demonstration projects on shellfish aquaculture and coastal processes. A partnership with the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Program provides research-based training to coastal policymakers.
In the ocean science education field, Woods Hole Sea Grant introduced Beachcomber’s Companion© in 2005, an award-winning publication and Web site highlighting common Atlantic marine invertebrates. For over a decade, Woods Hole Sea Grant has partnered with colleagues at New Hampshire Sea Grant to provide marine career information to students. Woods Hole Sea Grant is also participating in a WHOI effort to promote effective research–outreach partnerships.

—Judith E. McDowell, Program Director