The Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium (MASGC) has selected six research projects worth $1.3 million to receive funding in its 2022-2024 funding cycle. The university-based projects aim to help people, policy-makers and resource managers make decisions that lead to the responsible use of ocean and coastal resources in Alabama, Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico region.
MASGC strategically focuses its programs in the areas of environmental literacy and workforce development, healthy coastal ecosystems, resilient communities and economies, and sustainable fisheries and aquaculture
“The Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium is an outcome-driven program that relies on a steady stream of high-quality and relevant scientific research,” MASGC Director LaDon Swann said. “These six projects will address high-priority needs across our focus areas.”
Through a rigorous merit and relevancy review process, MASGC selected the following two-year projects for funding:
- What is the value of ecosystem services provided by recent restoration efforts on the northern Gulf Coast?
Daniel Petrolia, Mississippi State University; Judy Haner and Thomas Mohrman, The Nature Conservancy
$224,945
This research team will construct a database of living shoreline and reef restoration projects in Alabama and Mississippi and a database of existing ecosystem service valuation estimates from peer-reviewed literature. The team will then calculate the value of ecosystem services provided by the identified restoration projects and use the findings to forecast expected value of ecosystem services for ongoing and planned restoration projects.
- Evaluating potential effects of the Mid-Breton Diversion on living marine resources in the Mississippi Sound and Bight using a coupled modeling framework
Kim de Mutsert, Jerry Wiggert, Kemal Cambazoglu, Scott Milroy and Robert Griffitt, The University of Southern Mississippi
$225,000
This team will develop a modeling framework to help anticipate the potential positive or negative effects the proposed Mid-Breton Sediment Diversion project would have on living marine resources in the Mississippi Sound. The diversion project would divert fresh water and sediment from the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, into the Breton Sound. Once developed and validated, the modeling framework also could be expanded to evaluate the impact of factors such as harmful algal blooms and overfishing on the Mississippi Sound.
- Living Shorelines: Does breakwater design matter to fish?
Ronald Baker and Sarah Ramsden, University of South Alabama
$147,574
This research team will use acoustic tracking of fish to determine how much time red drum, speckled trout and sheepshead spend on four different living shoreline breakwater structures in Alabama. The team will create a metric to evaluate the success (or other) of living shorelines in enhancing fish habitat, which may be applied to future shoreline restoration efforts.
- Costs and benefits of nursery techniques to improve oyster aquaculture and restoration
Delbert Lee Smee, Dauphin Island Sea Lab; PJ Waters, Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center; and Rusty Grice, Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium
$233,358
This project team will determine the most cost-effectiveness means of nursery production to improve oyster reef aquaculture and restoration while working with oyster farmers and training future scientists. The team will develop a new hatchery technique to expose oysters to predator cues and produce oysters with thicker shells, which increases their survival and marketability for both the seafood market and reef restoration. The research team also will conduct a cost-benefit analysis of different methods of spat-on-shell restoration.
- Examining decision-makers’ and public risk information behaviors during severe weather events in Mississippi and Alabama coastal communities
Matthew VanDyke, Cory Armstrong and Brian Britt, The University of Alabama
$248,565
This study will use social media analysis, interviews and surveys to understand the information channels, tools and resources that Alabama and Mississippi coastal emergency managers, community leaders and residents use for short-term and long-term decision-making during severe weather events.
- Development of an economic benefit-cost impact GIS tool to evaluate the ability of natural and nature-based features (NNBF) to preserve coastal communities and businesses
Jeffrey LaMondia, Xing Fang and Benjamin Bowers, Auburn University
$231,226
This research team will create a transferable economic benefit-cost impact GIS tool to evaluate the ability of natural and nature-based features (NNBFs), such beaches, dunes, wetlands, living shorelines and seagrass beds, to change the extent, severity and probability of sea-level rise (SLR) flooding impacts. The tool will compare transportation, tourism, infrastructure and quality-of-life economic costs associated with SLR impacts when NNBFs are not used in a community compared with the costs associated with reduced SLR impacts when they are. The project also will include a case study that applies the tool to Mobile, Alabama.
Project award amounts include matching funds.
The National Sea Grant College Program, administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is a federal/state partnership that matches NOAA Sea Grant expertise and resources with state academic institutions. MASGC, created in 1972, is one of 34 Sea Grant programs.
Meet the author
Melissa Schneider
Communications Coordinator
Melissa Schneider coordinates public information, educational media and communication services for Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant. Some of MASGC's communications projects include our website, social... Read more
Phone: 228-818-8838
Email: [email protected]