Minnesota Sea Grant

**We serve Minnesotans who need water science.** We serve Minnesotans who need water science. We provide accessible research data to industry leaders, policymakers, educators, community organizations, municipal governments, university stakeholders, and Minnesotans of all ages. If the needed science doesn't exist, we seek to fund it and work to ensure it gets to those in need. We are a systemwide program of the University of Minnesota. We are what makes UMN a Sea Grant Institution. **National network:** Minnesota Sea Grant is part of the national network of 34 university-based programs and the [National](https://nsgl.gso.uri.edu "National Sea Grant Library") [Sea Grant Library.](https://nsgl.gso.uri.edu/ "National Sea Grant Library") Each Sea Grant program is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Sea Grant Office, and one or more host universities. **UMN systemwide program:** The National Sea Grant College Program was established by the U.S. Congress in 1966. Minnesota Sea Grant achieved college status in 1985 and is a University of Minnesota systemwide program. **We've been around:** For more than 50 years, the [National Sea Grant College Program](https://seagrant.noaa.gov/) has supported coastal and Great Lakes communities through research, extension, education, and communications to enhance the practical use and conservation of Great Lakes, coastal, and marine resources in order to create a sustainable economy and environment. **Our vision:** The vision of Minnesota Sea Grant is to promote a present and future where citizens use science-based understandings of the environment to address issues concerning Lake Superior and Minnesota's aquatic resources and associated economies. **Our mission:** Minnesota Sea Grant’s mission is to inform and facilitate interaction among the public and scientists to enhance the communities, the environment, and the economies along Lake Superior and across Minnesota's inland waters by identifying information needs, supporting scientific research to address those needs, translating the resulting science into actionable information, and communicating those results to the public. **Focus areas:** The activities, products, and services of Minnesota Sea Grant support our four main national and local focus areas. Additionally, we focus on Great Lakes Transport in support of the [largest tonnage port](https://duluthport.com/about-us/port-statistics/) on the Great Lakes, The Port of Duluth-Superior.