What Sea Grant does

Sea Grant, formally the National Sea Grant College Program, is a federal-university partnership program established by the U.S. Congress under the National Sea Grant College Act of 1966 and administered by NOAA. The program operates as a network of 34 university-based programs spanning every U.S. coastal and Great Lakes state plus Puerto Rico and Guam, drawing on the expertise of more than 3,000 scientists, engineers, public outreach experts, educators, and students. Its stated purpose is to create and maintain a healthy coastal environment and economy by connecting scientific research with community needs.

The program's core service is a three-pronged model of research, education, and extension. Research is delivered through an estimated 1,450 researchers supporting work on coastal and marine topics; education is delivered through 464 educators and platforms such as The Bridge, podcasts, videos, comics, and the Knauss Blog; and extension is delivered through a workforce of 822 professionals embedded directly in coastal communities. Specialized offerings include the Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship, NMFS-Sea Grant Fellowship, Community Engaged Internship, Young Fishermen's Career Development Program, Sea Grant Legal Network, American Lobster Initiative, Climate Ready Workforce Initiative, and Aquaculture Leadership Academy. In 2024, the program reports reaching 2.4 million people through educational programs and supporting 2,426 undergraduate and graduate students.

Sea Grant is funded primarily through congressional appropriations administered by NOAA's National Sea Grant Office, which distributes funds through national competitive funding competitions to the 34 university-based programs. The program is not commercially monetized; all services are provided at no direct cost to the public. In FY2024, federal investment totaled $94 million, which the program reports generated approximately $1 billion in economic benefit, including 21,520 jobs created or sustained, 2,076 businesses supported, and 103,293 seafood industry personnel adopting responsible fishery practices. Customer segments include coastal communities, students, seafood professionals, the legal community, and federal, state, and tribal partners.

Name

Sea Grant

Legal name

National Sea Grant College Program

Website

https://seagrant.noaa.gov

Company type

Public

Founded year

1966

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

The National Sea Grant College Program (Sea Grant) is a federal-university partnership under NOAA operating 34 university-based programs across U.S. coastal and Great Lakes states, delivering research, education, and extension services to coastal communities at no direct cost to the public.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Government Marine Research and Extension Services

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Oceans, Coastal & Marine Resource Management (BPADALAI)

Keywords

• Coastal research extension
• Marine science education
• Sustainable fisheries support
• Aquaculture workforce training
• Ocean literacy programs

Headquarters

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Federal Government Appropriations: Sea Grant is funded primarily through federal appropriations from NOAA, with Congress establishing the program in 1966 under the National Sea Grant College Act. The National Sea Grant Office administers funding to Sea Grant colleges throughout the nation through national funding competitions.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Sea Grant is a federal-university partnership program under NOAA that supports coastal, marine, and Great Lakes communities through research, education, and extension services delivered via 34 university-based programs. The program offers fellowships and internships, workforce development training, educational resources, and specialized initiatives in sustainable fisheries, aquaculture, climate resilience, and marine policy. All services are provided at no direct cost to the public, funded through federal congressional appropriations administered through competitive national funding competitions.

Product overview

Sea Grant is a federal-university partnership program administered by NOAA that supports coastal, marine and Great Lakes communities through research, education, and extension. The organization consists of 34 university-based programs across coastal and Great Lakes states. Sea Grant's offerings include fellowship programs (Knauss Fellowship, NMFS-Sea Grant Fellowship), internship programs (Community Engaged Internship), educational resources (The Bridge, Videos, Comics, Podcasts, Blogs), specialized initiatives (American Lobster Initiative, Young Fishermen's Career Development, Climate Ready Workforce), the Sea Grant Legal Network, and the Community Science Network. The program focuses on four strategic areas: healthy coastal ecosystems, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, resilient communities and economies, and environmental literacy and workforce development.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Knauss Fellowship Program The John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship provides graduate students with one-year policy fellowship experiences in federal government agencies, typically in Washington D.C.
• NMFS-Sea Grant Fellowship Joint fellowship program between NOAA Fisheries and Sea Grant supporting Ph.D. students in population and ecosystem dynamics and marine resource economics.
• Community Engaged Internship Summer internship program for undergraduate students providing hands-on research, extension, education, and communication experiences in marine and coastal professions.
• American Lobster Initiative Initiative addressing critical knowledge gaps to support the lobster industry and Northeast fishing communities through collaborative research projects.
• Young Fishermen's Career Development Program Program developing and executing training programs including seamanship, navigation, vessel maintenance, and sustainable fishing practices for new fishermen.
• Sea Grant Legal Network Network of lawyers working on coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes law and policy topics including sea level rise, climate adaptation, and maritime law.
• Sea Grant Community Science Network Network facilitating interaction among nationwide Sea Grant community science initiatives and providing professional development training for practitioners.
• Climate Ready Workforce Initiative Initiative advancing climate resilience through workforce development programs for coastal and Great Lakes communities.
• Aquaculture Leadership Academy Program providing leadership training for aquaculture industry professionals, led by Minnesota Sea Grant and Texas Sea Grant.
• The Bridge Sea Grant's online collection of ocean education resources providing educators with accurate marine science information on global, national, and regional topics.
• Seafood Health Facts Sea Grant-supported resource providing information on seafood safety, quality, nutrition, and preparation.

Quantifiable outcome

• $1 billion economic benefit from $94 million federal investment (2024)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered major and core.

• AltaSea at the Port of Los AngelesmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 April 2024New partnership launched with USC Sea Grant Program to accelerate innovation, workforce development, and community engagement at the intersection of ports, marine transportation, and the blue economy.
• U.S. Coastal Research ProgrammajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Partnership on ten projects to improve resilience and build safer, stronger coastal and Great Lakes communities using community engagement, engineering and research.
• U.S. Department of EnergycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021DOE's Wind Energy Technologies Office and Water Power Technologies Office partnered with Sea Grant to promote collaboration on ocean, coastal and Great Lakes research. This includes funding six projects for coexistence of offshore energy with fishing communities, creating the first Sea Grant National Offshore Wind Energy Liaison position, and a shared Knauss Fellowship position.
• Alaska Native Tribal Health ConsortiummajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021$2.7 million funding through Inflation Reduction Act collaboration with NOAA's National Ocean Service and National Sea Grant Office to support tribal-led climate adaptation strategies and technical assistance for Alaska Native communities.
• NOAA Marine Debris ProgrammajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Partnership to address marine debris challenges across the country. In 2020, collaboratively funded eight research projects. In 2021, funded six projects focused on preventing marine debris introduction. Sea Grant programs work with Marine Debris Program's regional coordinators.
• National Marine Fisheries ServicecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Joint fellowship program supporting PhD students in population and ecosystem dynamics and marine resource economics. Also partnered on red snapper abundance research through the Great Red Snapper Count project.
• NOAA Ocean Acidification ProgramcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016Highly productive partnership including joint programmatic opportunities at national and regional scale. Includes collaborative funding of ocean acidification research projects in Northeast (2016), Mid-Atlantic Graduate Fellowship (2018), Gulf of Mexico Regional Fellows (2020), and national shellfish aquaculture multi-stressor funding (2021).
• National Weather ServicemajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2001Partnership at national, regional and local levels to help communities prepare for hazardous weather. Many Sea Grant programs serve as Weather-Ready Nation Ambassadors. Regional partnership includes VORTEX-SE Program for tornado research in Southeast.
• Sea Grant AssociationcoreOthersNon-profit organization made up of the 34 Sea Grant program directors as well as several network leaders that gives a formal and collective voice to the university-based partners.
• National Sea Grant Advisory BoardcoreOthersThe National Sea Grant College Program's Federal Advisory Committee (FAC) that advises NOAA and the National Sea Grant College Program on strategies to address the Nation's highest priorities.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC): Federally chartered research and education institution running interdisciplinary coastal and marine science programs; comparable to Sea Grant in combining research, education, and public engagement around coastal ecosystems, but operates under the Smithsonian rather than as a grantmaking entity.

Broad incumbents

• U.S. Geological Survey (USGS): Federal science agency providing research on natural hazards, water resources, and ecosystems; shares Sea Grant's coastal/marine research mission and competes for the same federal science talent and discretionary dollars.
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Research and Development: Federal agency conducting and funding research on water quality, coastal ecosystems, and environmental health; a sibling science-and-extension funder whose coastal research portfolio overlaps with Sea Grant's ecosystem and water-quality work.
• National Science Foundation (NSF): Largest federal funder of non-medical basic research; provides grants to universities for ocean, coastal, and climate science that overlap Sea Grant's research portfolio and supports graduate student training through parallel fellowship programs.
• NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS): NOAA's regulatory and science agency for marine fisheries; runs joint programs with Sea Grant (NMFS-Sea Grant Fellowship, Great Red Snapper Count) and overlaps directly on fisheries research, aquaculture, and seafood industry support.
• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: Federal agency managing aquatic species, habitat, and coastal refuge programs; overlaps Sea Grant's fisheries, habitat restoration, and coastal-community support functions and acts as a frequent implementation partner.
• The Nature Conservancy: Large private environmental NGO with marine and coastal conservation programs across U.S. states and territories; complements Sea Grant's conservation, fisheries, and coastal resilience work through private philanthropy rather than federal appropriations.
• NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR): NOAA's primary intramural research arm, conducting ocean, atmospheric, and climate research across federal labs; a sibling agency within NOAA that competes for ocean-research dollars and partners with Sea Grant on shared priorities.

Emerging players

• Environmental Defense Fund (EDF): Major environmental NGO that runs targeted coastal resilience, fisheries, and ocean-climate programs using science-based advocacy; competes for philanthropic and grant funding aimed at similar outcomes as Sea Grant's extension work.

Direct peers

• USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) / Cooperative Extension System: Operates the parallel federal-university land-grant extension model that explicitly inspired Sea Grant; both distribute federal funds competitively to university-based programs that deliver research, education, and extension services to U.S. constituencies.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCdJP0SVOmJHFSgNu7H9m3jw
• Facebookfacebook.com/175326442485875
• Instagraminstagram.com/seagrant_noaa
• Pinterestpinterest.com/seagrantnoaa
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sea-grant

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Sea Grant