It’s official! The 20th annual Ocean Fun Days will take place on May 20 at Island Beach State Park in Seaside Park and May 21 at the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium headquarters on Sandy Hook – a perfect event for families and kids. With fun activities, eco tours, hands-on workshops, and much more, there’s something for everyone.
Click here for more info. Check out OceanFunDays.Org for some fun from last year!
Field Instructor: The New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium (NJSGC) is hiring part-time field instructors for their K-12 Education Program and Scout Program. NJSGC provides students and scouts with dynamic ocean science programs that may include but not be limited to outdoor experiential learning activities such as seining, interactive games, scientific demonstrations and laboratory experiments. Join a great group of people that love the beach, the outdoors and sharing their knowledge with students to promote a love of environmental science. Gain hands-on educational experience and work in one of the most unique natural “classroom” environments in New Jersey, Gateway National Recreation Area-Sandy Hook Unit. Click here to view the full job description.
The National Sea Grant College Program today announced recent investments through two complementary initiatives aimed at improving resilience with coastal communities. Through a joint competition with the U.S. Coastal Research Program (USCRP), ten new projects were selected for a total of $3.9 million in funding to translate research into application for communities.
Project activities span California, Georgia, Hawai’i, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Wisconsin, South Carolina and Texas, and activities will take place either over two years (Tier 1) or over four years (Tier 2). All projects have been recommended for funding and await final approval before award disbursement. These collaborative projects will build on Sea Grant’s continuing research and extension work in communities. The full list of USCRP-Sea Grant projects and descriptions is available here.
New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium has been awarded $150,000 (Tier 1) of federal funding to enhance community resilience through knowledge co-production on sediment transport and bypassing around natural tidal inlets. The goal of this project is to gain a better understanding of how hydrodynamic processes influence morphologic evolution at natural inlets and adjacent shorelines. The project will use local community knowledge and commonly used oceanographic analytic methods at Little Egg Inlet and Brigantine Inlet, which are natural, unstructured inlets in New Jersey, to help analyze current and sediment flow and inform interested parties of the changes in different scenarios. To gain community participation and knowledge co-production, the project team will organize listening sessions that aim to include a variety of interested parties to learn about the publics’ perspectives on shore protection activities, and human use and ecological species use at natural inlets, affiliated shoals, and adjacent shorelines. The project team will report on the effectiveness of student hands-on learning together with the coastal communities’ local knowledge in understanding currents and sediment transport around natural inlets.
“Through this partnership with the U.S. Coastal Research Program, Sea Grant is able to effectively leverage its nationwide network to help coastal and Great Lakes communities tackle some of the most pressing issues that they face now and in the future,” said Jonathan Pennock, director of NOAA’s National Sea Grant College Program. “The congressional appropriations dedicated to addressing resilience challenges through both of these complementary efforts will enhance engagement and adaptation planning and implementation for infrastructure, society, and human and ecosystem health.”
The projects selected through the USCRP-Sea Grant competition will increase the capacity of coastal communities across the U.S. to withstand and quickly recover from a diverse range of local challenges. This includes current and future flood risks posed by sea level rise and extreme storms. Projects will explore flooding impacts through the lenses of community socioeconomic factors, natural resource and infrastructure management, and shoreline adaptations. Additionally, projects will address coastal safety related to rip currents and drowning, and access to clean water.
New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium (NJSGC), the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) Howard laboratory is excited to release two new funding opportunities.The NEFSC Howard Laboratory and NJSGC are partners in both projects. The NOAA Office of Aquaculture is the third partner on the aquaculture project. The funding for the coastal health opportunity came to NJSGC through Representative Frank Pallone Jr.’s efforts. Both opportunities are intended to build more local expertise. Both competitions are especially encouraging teams that include faculty and/or students from communities historically under-served in marine and environmental sciences.
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)-Sea Grant Joint Fellowship Program in Population and Ecosystem Dynamics and Marine Resource Economics is designed to help Sea Grant fulfill its broad educational responsibilities and to strengthen the collaboration between Sea Grant and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Since 1990, Sea Grant and NMFS have partnered to train students through this joint fellowship program in two specialized areas: population and ecosystem dynamics as well as marine resource economics. Population and ecosystem dynamics involve the study of fish populations and marine ecosystems to better assess fishery stock conditions and dynamics. The NMFS-Sea Grant Joint Fellowship Program in Population and Ecosystem Dynamics and Marine Resource Economics places Ph.D. students in research-based fellowships that provide support for up to three years. The program is designed to fulfill workforce development needs identified by the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and since 1999, has provided opportunities for 159 Ph.D. students.
The goals of the NOAA Fisheries/Sea Grant Fellowship Program are:
Get started on your application with:
Applications from eligible PhD students are due to NJSGC by 5PM on January 25, 2023. Interested candidates should contact Dr. Peter Rowe, Executive Director NJSGC for more details. Please share this opportunity to interested PhD students.
The NOAA Office of Coastal Management (OCM) offers the Coastal Management and Digital Coast Fellowship Program. This on-the-job education and training in coastal resource management and policy is offered to postgraduate students and provides assistance to state coastal zone management agencies and NOAA partners.
For the 2023 fellowship, applicants must be U.S. citizens who will complete a master’s or other advanced degree at an accredited U.S. university between August 1, 2021, and July 31, 2023. A broad range of degrees are applicable to the fellowship because the projects are varied among the host organizations. This two-year opportunity offers a competitive salary, medical benefits, and travel and relocation expense reimbursement. More eligibility requirements, descriptions of the projects, and guidance on how to apply can be found at coast.noaa.gov/fellowship (
Application for the 2023 Coastal Management and Digital Coast Fellowship Program must be submitted to the Sea Grant office in the state where the student is receiving their degree by Friday, January 27, 2023 5pm local time. New Jersey students are encouraged to contact Dr. Peter Rowe at NJSGC with any questions or concerns.
NJSGC will host an informational “Knauss 101” Zoom meeting with Director Dr. Peter Rowe on Wednesday, December 14th at 10 a.m. Register here.
Please contact our Communications Specialist for more information on how to join the session.
For more information on the fellowship, please visit our website.
The application period for the 2024 Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship is now open. The fellowship provides a one-year, paid experience for highly qualified early career professionals to work on issues related to coastal, marine and Great Lakes science and policy in offices within the executive or legislative branch of government in Washington, D.C.
Graduate students interested in marine, coastal, and Great Lakes science and policy should explore the information about the fellowship as soon as possible and talk to New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium at least one month prior to the February 16, 2023 deadline.
To be eligible for the 2024 fellowship (which lasts February 1, 2024 through January 31, 2025),
Please share this opportunity with colleagues, friends and potential applicants!
Learn more about becoming a Knauss Fellow
Get started on your application with:
In 2021-2022, contributions from important donors like you allowed us to:
We’re looking forward to the bright future ahead of the Consortium as we move forward into our 54th year. In 2022 NJSGC not only continued, but also created several new outstanding programs and projects, including:
With your support we can continue to work hard to promote the wise use of New Jersey’s marine and coastal resources through research, education, and outreach. The New Year is just around the corner. Can we count on you to support our mission to steward New Jersey’s marine and coastal environment? To make a year-end, tax-deductible contribution to NJSGC for 2022, please click HERE or kindly address your contribution to:
Deborah Meehan Quinn
New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium
22 Magruder Road
Fort Hancock, NJ 07732
Bryan Fluech working with students on a shrimp boat during the McIntosh County Academy Commercial Fishing Class from Georgia Sea Grant.
Sea Grant announces a funding opportunity to develop and execute local, regional, and national programs, workshops, and services to enable fishermen to enter career paths, in support of the Young Fishermen’s Development Act and other initiatives.
The National Sea Grant Office anticipates between $1,000,000 and $2,000,000 of federal funds will be available to support approximately 2-5 awards, and awards will require 25% non-federal match. To be eligible to receive a grant under this program a recipient shall be a collaborative State, Tribal, local, or regionally based network or partnership of public or private entities, which may include— (A) a Sea Grant Institution; (B) a Federal or State agency or a Tribal organization; (C) a community-based nongovernmental organization; (D) fishermen’s cooperatives or associations; (E) an institution of higher education (including an institution awarding an associate’s degree), or a foundation maintained by an institution of higher education; or (F) any other appropriate entity.
Projects may benefit from engaging with the planning frameworks developed by Sea Grant programs in FY21-23. More information can be found here.
Letters of intent are required in order to be eligible to submit a full proposal and are due December 1, 2022.