Jeffrey D. Plumlee and M.P. Hayes

Louisiana’s land-grant universities rely on a successful model of community engagement and industry partnership. Since the land-grant university system was established by the Morrill Act in 1862, LSU has served as a pillar for place-based learning for direct community benefit. Subsequent acts established university-based agricultural research stations and the Cooperative Extension Service. These acts laid a foundation for the LSU system to support Louisiana with research-based educational information that improves lives and economic well-being while forging collaborative community networks through the LSU AgCenter Extension service. The model was replicated by the development of the National Sea Grant Program in 1966 and the Louisiana Sea Grant (LSG) Program in 1968. With the mission to create a sustainable coastal economy, a healthy environment and resilient communities, the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program complements the LSU land-grant mission. This land and sea grant partnership has grown through 57 years of service to provide immeasurable impact to Louisiana communities through the research, education and extension model.

The Louisiana Sea Grant College Program

The current LSG program is structured with five faculty specialists (aquaculture, fisheries, water quality, seafood safety and economics) domiciled in departments in Baton Rouge and eight regional agents embedded in south Louisiana communities, with all sharing appointments with the LSU AgCenter. However, LSG follows the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service model by including expertise in education, communications, law and policy, and research. The strategic initiatives core to the LSG mission are healthy ecosystems, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, resilient communities and economies, and environmental literacy and workforce development. Collectively, the LSG team amplifies the mission of community engagement through research and throughout the state to a diverse set of stakeholders and regionally specific issues.

Baton Rouge

Each of the four strategic initiatives that form the LSG mission has both centralized and regionally based events and program areas. For example, with the goal of developing environmental literacy and workforce development, LSG’s educational unit oversees the EnvironMentors program for high school students to build skills in after-school research projects with university student mentors. On the LSU campus, LSG hosts the educational event Ocean Commotion, which in the 25-year history of the program hosted more than 43,000 K-12 students and has an annual attendance of 2,100 attendees, with exhibitors creating and displaying Louisiana-centric science and environmental content. The LSG law and policy program hosts annual internships to build awareness in next-generation law students for coastal challenges. Topically, this program enhances their research and communication skills through experiential learning trips into communities and focused projects for disaster resiliency. Additionally, LSG aims to develop Louisiana workforces by implementing programs like the LSG Discovery, Integration and Application program (LaDIA), which instructs academic scholars on how to translate their work to address relevant regional issues and communicate the importance of their work to community stakeholders. Another workforce development opportunity is the Fisheries and Seafood Leadership Program, which is a year-long workshop for emerging leaders in the fishing and seafood industry. Although many programs are hosted by the campus units, embedded extension agents create programing throughout the state in response to issues unique to each Louisiana coastal basin.

Western Louisiana

From Baton Rouge to the coastal Chenier Plain, agents respond to stakeholder challenges by providing resources and guidance. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, LSG agents, specialists, and law and policy attorneys provided guidance to shrimp docks and processors to apply to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Adjustment Act to buy wild-caught Louisiana shrimp. Through their action and guidance, an estimated $19.6 million in shrimp products were purchased through the program in 2020, and an additional $24 million in shrimp products were purchased by the USDA in 2021. Additionally, during the pandemic, with the assistance of LSU AgCenter and LSG specialists and agents, a large catfish processor was awarded a $7 million grant from the USDA Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program to improve workplace safety, retain jobs and modernize equipment. With additional resources and long-running programs like Louisiana Direct Seafood in the region, fishermen are able to self-advocate and adopt new and historically unavailable markets and customers.

Central Louisiana

Some LSG programs have existed for so long that they are institutions unto themselves. For instance, Marsh Maneuvers, hosted most recently at the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, was established in 1989 and hosts weekly camps for 4-H students from around the state in the summer. The program focuses on exercises in natural resource management and the complexities of balancing social needs and environmental consequences. Because of the program’s success, it was replicated and expanded into the Barataria Basin as the Marsh Dawgs program. Integral to environmental literacy and workforce development programs like Marsh Maneuvers and Marsh Dawgs is the goal of inspiring the next generation of environmental stewards. In central Louisiana, coordinated activities that promote community resilience through initiatives like Harbors of Refuge, which assesses the need for safe dock space for the fishing industry. Additionally, LSG works closely with tribal leaders in the state to help provide guidance on best land management practices to the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe, whose tribal lands could be lost as Louisiana’s land erodes away at one of the fastest land loss rates in the world.

Eastern Louisiana

In eastern Louisiana, agents host restoration and educational workshops to promote sustainable ecosystems while advancing understanding of coastal restoration. The Adopt-a-Pond Program emphasizes the use of nature-based solutions, including detention basins and planting projects, to reduce environmental contaminants and water impairments due to excess nutrients. This is tangential to the Recreational Pond Management Programs and the Under-treated Wastewater Task Force, whose goal is to increase local community knowledge on the effects of poor water quality. Additionally, promoting land stewardship and effective restoration strategies are the goals of the St. Bernard Black Mangrove Planting Program, which takes local K-12 students and walks them through the process of planting, growing and transplanting black mangroves to protect shorelines in Breton Sound.

The land and sea grant model exists as a response to the needs of the Louisiana community. With the rapid evolution and unpredictable challenges surrounding LSG’s strategic initiatives of community resilience, sustainable fisheries and healthy ecosystems, the LSG program is a necessary resource for stakeholders in coastal communities. Through the continued partnership and investment by the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service, LSG is positioned to provide industry partners and the community with critical support and resources to thrive for years to come.

Jeffrey D. Plumlee is the state fisheries specialist and is a dual-appointed assistant professor at the LSU AgCenter School of Renewable Natural Resources and Louisiana Sea Grant. M.P. Hayes is the state water quality specialist and a dual-appointed assistant professor at the LSU AgCenter School of Plant, Environmental, and Soil Sciences and Louisiana Sea Grant.

This article appears in the fall 2025 issue of Louisiana Agriculture.

Louisiana Sea Grant maintains programs across the state. Click here to view a full-page version of this illustration. Illustration by Ana Iverson