Oregon Sea Grant’s “Shop on the Dock” Connects Seafood Buyers with Fishermen

April 24, 2022

Kaety Jacobson, Oregon Sea Grant Extension marine fisheries faculty member leading a Shop at the Dock tour in Newport. Photo credit: Oregon Sea Grant

Oregon Sea Grant “shop the dock” tours result in approximately 600 consumers learning how to buy seafood directly from vessels each year, increasing fishermen’s overall sales. During each tour, Oregon Sea Grant Extension agents discussed regulations, sustainability, fishing practices and what to look for when buying seafood.

“Shop on the Dock” provides economic benefits to marine businesses through education and public outreach, and participants and fisherman alike were strongly supportive of the program. In 2016, roughly 60 percent of participants bought fish while on the tour, spending anywhere from $20 to more than $100. Participating businesses reported approximately $10,000 in product sales through the Shop on the Dock program. Oregon Sea Grant plans to expand Shop on the Dock to other coastal Oregon waterfronts, including Warrenton and Coos Bay.

Four people install substrate for an oyster reef.

Alaska

Biden-Harris Administration invests $60 million to build a climate-ready workforce through Investing in America agenda

Today, the Department of Commerce and NOAA announced $60 million in funding to help train and place people in jobs that advance a climate-ready workforce for coastal and Great Lakes states, Tribes and Territories as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda under the Inflation Reduction Act. To date, awards like these from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda have created more than 270,000 jobs across the country.

The funding will support nine projects around the nation, with $50 million going directly to the projects and $10 million for technical assistance to support the grantees.

Sea Grant Aquaculture Academy in New Hampshire

Sea Grant aquaculture professionals from across the country convened in Portsmouth, NH in early April for a 4-day intensive “Sea Grant Aquaculture Academy” hosted by New Hampshire Sea Grant with support from North Carolina Sea Grant.

Sea Grant takes center stage in Oceanography special issue

NOAA Sea Grant-funded research and work with coastal and Great Lakes communities across the nation are being highlighted in a special issue of “Oceanography,” the official journal of The Oceanography Society.

This special issue, published in April 2024, features 36 articles contributed by Sea Grant authors across 29 programs and the NOAA National Sea Grant Office.