Survey of the Sea Grant Program

The authors of the Sea Grant legislation established the marine advisory services as a means to communicate the results of applied research in the marine field to appropriate user groups and to provide researchers with user feedback. The advisory personnel contacted for this review of the National Sea Grant Program were concerned about the lack of applied research in the program.

The Sea Grant projects were not meeting users' needs. Advisory personnel said they were not always able to get personnel at some Sea Grant institutions to address the specific concerns of the local community and that many research projects did not aid those served by the advisory services. A project evaluation system for completed projects had not been established. GAO believed that improvements were needed in program management. It was suggested that an effort be made to evaluate the merits of proposed projects from the users' perspective. More attention should be directed toward determining the type of projects that would serve the needs of the marine community. A followup system for evaluating completed projects to determine whether they have accomplished their objectives should be established.