As sea levels rise due to climate change, California’s shores are expected to erode, causing the destruction of habitat. California’s resource managers are increasingly pursuing living shoreline initiatives that use natural habitats to promote shoreline resiliency — though their effectiveness is not always clear.
Drinking water has become unreliable, and sometimes unsafe, along California’s coast. Population growth has put pressure on water supplies, but sea-level rise is an issue, too. In coastal aquifers, fresh groundwater essentially floats atop a layer of seawater. So as the ocean rises, the groundwater table rises too. This can damage infrastructure and ecosystems and impact human health.
Cal Poly Humboldt professor Dr. Laurie Richmond has joined the California Sea Grant Extension Program. Richmond’s work focuses on the human, social and policy dimensions of marine and coastal issues, incorporating different ways of knowing and working with a diverse set of partners and communities.
California Sea Grant is excited to welcome two new fund managers to our fiscal team! The fiscal team does critical work at CASG, serving as the team responsible for the accounting activities of our statewide program with research projects, fellowships and extension services throughout California. Fund managers are responsible for preparing financial reports, maintaining bookkeeping systems, reviewing invoices, processing reimbursements and much more.
Most Americans will recognize sushi wrapped with thin savory sheets of dried seaweed or crispy seaweed squares tucked into the side of a bowl of steaming ramen, but this valuable sea vegetable is also widely used in cosmetics, animal feed, candies, salad dressings and to thicken products like ice cream and yogurt. Outside of a handful of small producers in California, Alaska and New England, the vast majority of seaweed used in the U.S. is imported from Asia, leaving us with an import-export deficit of more than $33 million.
Shrimp, salmon, tuna, shellfish — it’s no secret the vast majority of seafood Americans enjoy are imported. Indeed, a whopping 85 percent of our seafood is brought in from other countries, with nearly half coming from farm-raised sources. Reducing America’s seafood trade deficit has been both a priority and a challenge, but solutions are on the horizon.
California Sea Grant is drafting a new strategic plan, and we want your input!
Every five years California Sea Grant updates and reevaluates our program’s strategic plan in an effort to ensure the diverse needs of California’s coastal communities and marine environment are in fact being met. Once completed, this year’s strategic plan will guide our work from 2024 to 2027.