Coastal Resilience and the Blue Economy | American Blue Economy Podcast

November 16, 2021

A buzz word on the coast, but could it mean opportunity?

In this month's episode of the American Blue Economy Podcast, our host Admiral Tim Gallaudet guides us on the topic of coastal resilience  We look at ways to achieve coastal resilience and how that contributes to the American Blue Economy by protecting communities and businesses. Our coasts are subject to a range of challenges, including those associated with climate change (addressed in October’s podcast), tropical storms, pollution, invasive species, competing uses, erosion, hypoxia and harmful algal blooms, in addition to the COVID-caused economic downturn. With encouraging contributions from the following superstar cast of his former NOAA colleagues and partners, Admiral Gallaudet highlights the positive steps being taken to make coastal communities more resilient to them.

  • Dr. Robert Twilley, Chairman of the Board & Interim Executive Director of the Coastal Sustainability Studio, Professor, LSU College of the Coast & Environment, former Executive Director, Louisiana Sea Grant
  • Ed Levine, Managing Director of Scientific Support & Coordination, LLC., Former NOAA OR&R SSC, Vice Chair of the committee to revise the Oil In the Sea, IV publication at National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine
  • Pat Montanio, Former Director of NOAA Fisheries’s Office of Habitat Conservation
  • Dr. Kandis Boyd, Deputy Division Director at the National Science Foundation, and former acting Director of NOAA Research’s WPO
  • Dr. Russell Callender, Director of Washington Sea Grant, Former NOAA Assistant Administrator and head of National Ocean Service
Show Transcription
This transcription was generated by a computer. Please excuse any errors.
Adm. Tim Gallaudet

Rear Admiral Gallaudet, PhD, USN (ret) is the CEO of Ocean STL Consulting. From 2017-2021, he served as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere / Deputy NOAA Administrator, and from 2017-2019 he also served as the Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere / NOAA Administrator. As Acting Administrator, he led the agency comprised of 20,000 federal employees and contractors managing the nation’s fisheries, coastal resources and waterways, weather satellites, weather services, and environmental research, overseeing a $6B annual budget and daily operations of 18 environmental satellites, 16 oceanographic ships, 9 aircraft, 450 boats, and 400 technical divers, 6 supercomputers, over a dozen laboratories, and several hundred field sites across the country. As the Deputy Administrator, he led NOAA’s Blue Economy activities that advance marine transportation, sustainable seafood, ocean exploration and mapping, marine tourism and recreation, and coastal resilience. Prior to NOAA, Rear Admiral Gallaudet served for 32 years in the US Navy, completing his career as the Oceanographer of the Navy. He has a Bachelor’s degree from the US Naval Academy, and Master’s and Doctoral degrees from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, all in oceanography.