Our research and funding priorities
The OOST has furthered important work to better understand the contribution of Oregon’s marine reserves, describe the
effects of ocean acidification and hypoxia, and collect information about Oregon’s important nearshore resources. In late
2023, the OOST hosted a summit that convened leading thinkers in ocean and coastal policy, management, and research
to determine priorities and opportunities in the coming years:
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Improve our understanding of changing ecosystem and species conditions. Characterize
shifts in ecosystem structure and function, species life history, and biodiversity hotspots.
Enhance social well-being and resilience of ocean and coastal communities. Better
understand the relationship between community well-being and coastal economy,
including historic, current, and future ocean and coastal uses.
Operate the OOST with the highest standards of accountability, seeking long-term
sustainable funding and capacity to achieve our mission. Conduct the work of the OOST in
a fiscally-responsible manner, emphasizing actionable and transdisciplinary science and
knowledge that informs ocean and coastal policy and management issues.
Achieving our priorities
The OOST aims to support science and monitoring that informs policy and management for three key issues:
1. Carbon and climate impacts to ocean conditions
2. Sustainable food production and fisheries
3. Coastal and ocean development and infrastructure
Climate: Identify the most appropriate and
actionable climate solutions to protect,
restore, and manage nearshore habitats as
well as sequester carbon, improve coastal
resiliency, and enhance adaptations to
coastal hazards and sea level rise.
Priorities this supports: 1, 2, 3
Knowledge and data gaps: Identify and
fill knowledge and data gaps, improve
accessibility, and synthesize existing data.
Explore development of new tools, such as AI. Support knowledge co-production.
Priorities this supports: 1, 2, 3
Energy: Build understanding of emerging
ocean infrastructure and its effects on
ecosystems and people.
Priorities this supports: 1, 3
Fisheries: Understanding the sustainability
of populations of key species in the face of
changing ocean conditions and high fishery
demand.
Priorities this supports: 1, 2
Species and habitat: Build and enhance
capacity for long-term monitoring to develop
indicators for resilience. Understand changes
in species distribution and abundance with
changing ocean conditions.
Priorities this supports: 1, 2