As a low-lying barrier island, Tybee Island is vulnerable to frequent and widespread flooding. Using a participatory approach, faculty at Stetson University and Georgia Sea Grant assessed how coastal flooding risks in the City of Tybee Island are being exacerbated by sea-level rise and explored potential adaptation actions for making the city more resilient over time.

Georgia Sea Grant helped the City of Tybee Island develop a Sea Level Rise Adaptation Plan that has helped improve the City’s rating under FEMA’s Community Rating System. In addition to beach renourishment, the City of Tybee Island continues to reduce its flood risk by installing living shorelines, expanding stormwater capacity by replacing a 36” pipe on the south-end with two 48” pipes that have tide flaps, continuing negotiations with Georgia Department of Transportation about raising Highway 80, and raising vulnerable pump stations.

Georgia Sea Grant provides professional development training where undergraduate and graduate students learn the skills to be successful in their fields and gain an understanding of how their disciplines work. Quality mentoring greatly enhances students’ chances for success. In 2016, Georgia Sea Grant provided support to 140 undergraduate and graduate students.

As a result of financial sponsorship and mentoring support provided by Georgia Sea Grant, several students are pursuing graduate studies in marine science. Two Marine Education interns are enrolled in graduate degrees in Biology and Environmental Science. One has secured a professional environmental educator position, and another is working in the field of marine education as a public program coordinator.

The TED required of shrimpers was not working well with jellyballs because the four-inch bar opening which prevents turtles also excluded nearly of 30% of the jellyball catch. Georgia Sea Grant provided funding and extension expertise for the development and evaluation of a TED to help fishermen trawling for cannonball jellyfish operate more efficiently and avoid a significant loss of catch.