Final Reporting

Funding recipients are required to submit a final report on completion of a WSG-funded activity, together with copies of resulting publications, theses and applications. Project investigators will be contacted directly when a final report is required. Following is an example final report template. For more information on reporting requirements contact Raechel Waters at rlwaters@u.washington.edu.

1. Objectives

Please check that the objectives from your original proposal are still accurate.

2. Rationale  

Please check that the rationale from your original proposal is still accurate.

3. Accomplishments    

Please summarize findings of your research or achievements of your education projects (200 words or fewer).

4. Impacts

Please describe impacts resulting from your work. That National Sea Grant Office defines impacts as follows: Impacts are higher order, usually long-term results of a program’s activities that have significant scientific, economic or social benefits. Impacts may involve behavioral, policy or economic changes. Seminal contributions to science are considered impacts especially if the research findings lead to major progress in a particular field, implementation of new technologies or have a substantive bearing on an economic or societal issue.

Examples of impact statements (with context, as we would include when reporting on your project)

Sea Grant encourages ecosystem approaches to management in the California Current:  Many West Coast fisheries, their resources and the port communities they support have collapsed in recent decades.  WSG-funded researchers have developed a bioeconomic model for the California Current ecosystem — one that quantifies resilience and tradeoffs among marine ecology, regional economics and climate interactions within the ecosystem.  Impact:  The Pacific Fishery Management Council can use the model in its management process to address development of marine protected areas, fleet capacity reduction, rebuilding of overfished groundfish and salmon stocks, and the relationship between sustainable fishing communities and the coastal marine ecosystem.

Sea Grant leads Northwest effort to halt unwanted ballast water invaders:  Cargo ships transfer millions of gallons of ballast water among ports each year, carrying with them the threat for release of harmful nonnative plants, animals and disease organisms.  WSG specialists are exploring the biology of ballast water and technologies, including ozone treatment and ultra-violet and biocidal disinfection of ballast water, to curb introductions of unwanted organisms. Impact:  Washington has initiated a state-focused ballast-water sampling program for incoming vessels.  Public/private partnerships with the maritime shipping industry will allow several promising technologies to be tested on a commercial scale in next year.

Sea Grant provides reliable and timely data to boaters:  Currently, recreational boaters must consult several sources in order to learn about tide and weather conditions before heading out to sea.  Accessing this information is often cumbersome and not always readily understandable and usable by the average boater.  WSG-supported research will result in the creation of a central Internet-based Boater Information System that incorporates the latest high-resolution wind, weather and current information at a location-specific level. Impact: Beginning in 2007, boaters will have practical, accessible and detailed information on local conditions to use in planning trips.

5. Performance Measures

All NOAA programs (including Sea Grant) are required to report annually on their performance to NOAA leadership, and NOAA has established a series of performance measures. Sea Grant programs are required to report specifically on three of these performances measures, as they are most likely to relate to Sea Grant activities. Please read the performance measures and their explanations below and, if applicable, provide appropriate information for your activities during the reporting period and the upcoming year (please include results that are likely to evolve as a direct result of your project even if funding is ending with this reporting period):

Measure 1: Economic and societal benefits derived from the discovery and application of new sustainable coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes products from the sea

Explanation

Society benefits from the discovery, exploration, and development of new sustainable coastal and ocean products (i.e. marine natural products, health, pharmaceuticals). Sea Grant’s (and other NOAA programs’) efforts to develop new drugs from marine organisms have resulted in the discovery and description of more than 1,000 compounds that may be vitally important to the health industry. This measure tracks the economic benefits generated by NOAA’s investment in new products from coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes ecosystems.

Sample report for this measure

Measure 2: Cumulative number of coastal, marine, and Great Lakes issue-based forecast capabilities developed and used for management

Explanation

NOAA develops discrete forecast models that allow resource managers to make decisions based on predicted environmental and socioeconomic impacts related to a particular issue. Managers use these issue-based forecasts to predict the impacts of a single ecosystem stressor (i.e., climate change, extreme natural events, pollution, invasive species, and land and resource use) and in order to evaluate the potential of various management options. These forecasts are based on field and laboratory studies, existing data, and models predicting environmental conditions under different scenarios. Forecast capabilities will be specific to a geographic area; they will be counted for each ecosystem as they become operational. For example, HAB forecasts in the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf of Maine will be counted as two separate forecast capabilities. Similarly, multiple, distinct forecast capabilities could be counted within a single ecosystem (i.e. NOAA may forecast HABs, pink shrimp harvest, and hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico). There has been significant progress toward this goal in recent years. Numerous examples include: pink shrimp harvest and Gulf of Mexico hypoxia forecast model development (2002), transfer of an operational Eastern Gulf of Mexico harmful algal bloom alert capability to NOAA’s Coastal Services Center (2004), transfer of the Great Lakes Forecasting System to NOS CO-OPS and NWS (2005), and preliminary forecasts for domoic acid in Pacific NW razor clams, coral bleaching, MSX oyster mortality, and real time jellyfish prediction in the Chesapeake Bay.

Sample report for this measure

Measure 3: Percentage/number of tools, technologies, and information services that are used by managers (NOAA and/or its partners and customers) to improve ecosystem-based management

Explanation: This measure tracks Ecosystem Research Program (ERP) success in translating research findings into tools, technologies and information services that improve the use and management of coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes ecosystems. Examples of tools include: land cover data, benthic habitat maps, and environmental sensitivity index maps. Technologies refer to the transfer of new or underused approaches for addressing coastal management (e.g., remote sensing, biosensors, AUVs, genetic markers for fishery stocks) and resource development (e.g. culture systems for aquaculture, marine pharmaceuticals). This includes the application of technology to coastal resource management through synthesis, integration, training, and the development of new management tools. Information services would include specific technical assistance, directed education materials and curricula, targeted extension and training. Tools or techniques used for modeling or forecasting are measured elsewhere and excluded here. The KEY here is for these tools and services to be utilized and applied by managers. Tracking the accessibility and application of information by target audiences will allow ERP to identify and expand its most effective programs and products. NOAA partners and customers include federal, state, local and tribal authorities who make decisions that affect the state of resources in the U.S. coastal zone, and other users whose actions impact the condition of coastal ecosystems (e.g., private industry, school children.)

Sample report for this measure

6. Publications

Please provide citations for all publications derived from this project, including those in preparation, in review and in press. When available, please provide 7 reprints of published journal articles, book chapters, proceedings, technical reports and advisory publications. Please provide at least one original copy of magazine articles. For theses/dissertations, please provide 1 copy of the abstract, cover page and signature page. In addition, we strongly encourage you to submit PDFs of any publications (except theses and dissertations) if available.

Please also recall that the following acknowledgment statement is required in publications of work supported by Sea Grant funds:

This work (report, activity, publication) was funded in part by a grant from the Washington Sea Grant, University of Washington, pursuant to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Award No. __________, Project _______.  The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA or any of its sub-agencies.

7. Posters and Presentations

Please list citations for any posters or presentations completed by you or supported students.

8. Patents and Copyrights 

Please list any patents or copyrights (awarded or pending) resulting from this project.

9. New Businesses or Jobs Created

Please list any new businesses or jobs created from this project – be as specific as possible.

10. List All Students Supported by or Affiliated with this Project

Please provide the following details for each student:

____ no students involved (check here if no students were involved in the project)

  1. Student Name: 
  2. Department: 
  3. Major/Degree field: 
  4. Major Professor: 
  5. Degree (Ph.D., M.S., M.A., B.S., B.A., etc):
  6. Dissertation/Thesis title:
  7. Date of graduation (actual or anticipated): 
  8. Approximate support or affiliation period (e.g., Jan – June 2005):
  9. Type of support (RA, research costs, conferences – list all that apply):
  10. Current employment if applicable: 

11. Interactions

Please describe significant interactions with state/federal agencies, other universities, industries, businesses, other stakeholders or the general public resulting from the project.

12. Outreach and Information/Technology Transfer

Please describe any specific outreach or information/technology transfer activities that have taken place relative to your work. What sort of follow-up activities should take place to ensure that the results of this project are applied to the fullest extent possible?