For 50 years, the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium (MASGC) has been solving coastal problems with science. This has not been done in a vacuum, but rather through direct engagement and interaction with coastal communities, businesses, resource agencies and industry leaders AND with leading academic researchers and technology developers in our region and beyond.
Complex problems require complex solutions that often include the latest scientific discoveries. Topics, such as aquaculture, bycatch reduction, resilience to coastal storms, eroding shorelines, water quality, harmful algal blooms, oil spills and environmental literacy and workforce development, all require multifaceted approaches that cannot be fully addressed by a single group or organization.
Co-production focuses on diverse perspectives
Co-production of knowledge is a relatively new term that first appeared in scientific literature in the late 1990s and was used when referencing environmental issues in the early 2000s. In the past five to 10 years, it has become a common term used by many funding agencies. It is focused on bringing diverse perspectives and expertise to a problem in order to generate new ideas and knowledge.
This often is done on a project-by-project basis and focuses on a discrete topic. However, Sea Grant programs around the country have been applying this approach at a larger, programmatic and institutional level for more than 50 years. Sea Grant has been bringing groups of people with diverse and often disparate perspectives together to understand the situation around a controversial topic and collectively develop options and science-based solutions.
Academic researchers are an integral component of this approach because they not only need to understand the concerns but must develop research approaches that identify solutions to problems or increases our understanding of the coastal environment. This approach requires trust across all groups and builds on previous successes. Sea Grant bridges these groups and facilitates the process.
Co-production in action
A recent example of the start of a co-production of knowledge process occurred last month and was convened by Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant. The oyster farming industry is growing in our region, and, as with all new industries, there are often growing pains. One growing pain is testing capacity to re-open waters after closures.
MASGC brought together federal and state agency leaders, oyster farmers, elected officials and university-based researchers to discuss this topic in coastal Alabama. Through this in-person meeting and input from many diverse perspectives, we were able to identify the challenges, bottlenecks and potential science-based and policy solutions that can overcome some of local hurdles.
Everyone who participated was open to pursuing creative resolutions to the challenges. All came out of the meeting having learned new information about the topic. This event jumpstarted a discussion about a longstanding concern, and we are pointed in a problem-solving direction. There will be a combination of actions, scientific discoveries and policy changes that will enable us to overcome these challenges, and they have already begun. In addition, to continue this momentum and identify additional challenges that require advances in science and policy we are implementing a Mississippi-Alabama oyster community of practice starting in January 2023. More details to come early next year.
Meet the author
Steve Sempier, Ph.D.
Director
Steve Sempier serves as Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant's director. Steve joined MASGC in 2007 and became director in 2026. As director, he provides overall leadership and management for all MASGC... Read more
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