Liffmann Returns to Louisiana Sea Grant

Michael Liffmann has returned to Louisiana Sea Grant (LSG) as a Sea Grant Scholar.

Liffmann began his LSU career in 1984 as the first assistant director of the Ports and Waterways Institute. He then joined Louisiana Sea Grant (LSG) as assistant director in 1986. He worked in that position until 1995 when he was promoted to associate director and was made responsible for coordinating LSG’s extension and outreach (Extension, Communications and Education) projects.

In 2007, Liffmann moved to the National Sea Grant Office in Silver Spring, Maryland, where he was National Extension lead and a program officer. After retiring from the federal government in December 2015, he returned to Louisiana, and although he retired, Liffmann remained involved in coastal issues by being a member of LSG’s Advisory Board, helping review proposals, selecting award winners and serving on ad hoc committees.

Looking forward to returning to LSG, he said, “My first task should be challenging and interesting. Louisiana’s Office of Community Development (OCD) has asked Sea Grant to conduct a study to determine whether the commercial and recreational fisheries infrastructure and economic development investments made following hurricanes Katrina and Rita (2005) and Gustav and Ike (2008) had the intended outcomes. The four storms caused more than $800 million of fisheries-related economic losses in 2005 and 2008.”

To help with the industry’s post-storm recovery process, OCD invested approximately $60 million in nearly 50 projects throughout coastal Louisiana.