Since its establishment in 1968, Louisiana Sea Grant College Program has worked to promote stewardship of the state’s coastal resources through a combination of research, education and outreach programs critical to the cultural, economic and environmental health of Louisiana’s coastal zone.

Louisiana Sea Grant, based at Louisiana State University, is part of the National Sea Grant Program, a network made up of 32 programs located in each of the coastal and Great Lakes states and Puerto Rico. Sea Grant Programs work individually and in partnership to address major marine and coastal challenges.

What is Sea Grant? Congress established the National Sea Grant College Program, now administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in 1966. The term “Sea Grant” was selected to underscore the similarity between this new program, focused on national coastal and marine resources, and the Land Grant program created more than a century earlier to develop agricultural resources.

LSU was designated the nation’s thirteenth Sea Grant College in 1978. And in 2007, the Program received a Category 1 rating – the highest level of performance – after an evaluation conducted by the National Sea Grant Review Panel.