handle planning, review, and funding for its Estuarine Habitat Program and as a pass-through mechanism for most of its extramural funding. ¹ Other parts of NOAA also use Sea Grant as a pass-through mechanism. In fact, pass-through funding (from NOAA and elsewhere) accounted for approximately 13% of funds handled by state programs in FY1993.

Although NSGO staff often participate in cross-NOAA activities, Sea Grant has funded few joint activities with units in other Line Offices because funds for joint NSGO-Line Office activities must be derived from within its capped administrative costs. There is little use of the capabilities of state Sea Grant programs in a wider NOAA context. Sea Grant could use its proven state-level capabilities more broadly within NOAA, but it was evident to the committee, state program directors, and the Sea Grant Review Panel (SGRP) that the program has not achieved its potential in this area. For example, many state program directors noted that NOAA has not adequately integrated Sea Grant with other parts of NOAA to use strengths and capabilities of Sea Grant. As an example of how Sea Grant could help NOAA, the Sea Grant Marine Advisory Service (MAS) “was the lead organization in stabilizing the conflict between NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service and the shrimp industry regarding the use of turtle excluder devices (TEDs). All [state Sea Grant] programs along the Southeast and Gulf coasts have contributed to development of certification procedures and new TED models, which in turn contributed to decreased anxiety on both sides.”² More generally, many different programs in NOAA have developed their own schemes for accomplishing strategic research, outreach, and education. None of the research, outreach, and education activities carried out elsewhere in NOAA has such a well-developed network of state programs or devotes as many of its resources to outreach and education focused on strategic research issues, as does Sea Grant.

It is not clear why Sea Grant's capabilities have not been used throughout NOAA, although it may be because Sea Grant accounts for only a minor part of the NOAA budget and operates primarily in the states. It is relatively invisible within NOAA at the national level. Sea Grant is administered as a part of NOAA located in the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) (Figure 3). As a result of Sea Grant's low-level placement, subsumed within a program in a Line Office, the capabilities of state Sea Grant programs have little impact on other NOAA activities.

Sea Grant was not included in the President's budget for eight years, in part, because it was viewed as a Congressional program of aid to states of unrecognized usefulness to NOAA and to the Department of Commerce (DOC). During

FRONT MATTER (R1-R6)

PREFACE (R7-R8)

CONTENTS (R9-R10)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (1-6)

CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION (7-12)

CHAPTER 2 - ISSUES: BACKGROUND AND FINDINGS (13-36)

CHAPTER 3 - RECOMMENDATIONS (37-48)

APPENDICES (49-50)

APPENDIX 1: EXCERPT FROM THE NATIONAL SEA GRANT COLLEGE PROGRAM ACT (51-52)

APPENDIX 2: LETTER OF REQUEST (53-53)

APPENDIX 3: COMMITTEE BIOGRAPHIES (54-56)

APPENDIX 4: QUESTIONNAIRES (57-60)

APPENDIX 5: DOCUMENTS REVIEWED (61-62)

APPENDIX 6: SEA GRANT PROGRAMS AND THEIR GROUPINGS (63-63)