Economic Impacts of Sea Grant Project Goals and Objectives

The overall goal of this Gulf-wide project is to establish a Gulf of Mexico Economics Working Group (EWG), comprised of marine economists from the four Gulf of Mexico Sea Grant (SG) programs. Specifically, it aims to achieve the following objectives:

1. List the industry sectors with which Sea Grant Research, Education, Extension and Outreach (SG-REEO) has worked or is currently working.
2. Provide an overview of the available economic indicators describing these sectors to the respective state or Gulf economy.
3. Describe the specific SG-REEO activities that have been conducted with those sectors over the last 5-10 years.
4. Conduct case studies of a subset of those sectors to delineate measurable economic benefits resulting from SG-REEO activities.
5. Develop a final report which will suggest how a more rigorous assessment could be conducted with emphasis on the methods, funding and personnel requirements.

This project was funded by the Mississippi State University Extension Service and the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under award NA10OAR4170078.