For approximately 10 years, School of Law students have been working with UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant to provide legal and policy expertise to help improve the environmental, social and economic health of the Georgia coast.

Third-year student Leighlee Mahony (right) and Georgia Sea Grant Legal Program Director Katie Hill (J.D.’08) at the UGA River Basin Center Annual Graduate Water Research Poster Contest in November.

The Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant unit partnered with the university’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government to develop the Legal Program in 2015. Since then, more than 25 law school students have served as Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant Legal Fellows.

Katie Hill (J.D.’08), the director of the Legal Program, said, “Often, the work we do focuses on objective policy analysis to inform decision-makers. … Students understand why this type of policy work is extremely valuable for our governmental clients, the state of Georgia, and beyond.”

Tamaris M. Henderson, a third-year law student, served as a Legal Fellow last academic year with a focus on derelict crab and lobster traps in coastal states. Her work was related to the Nationwide Fishing Trap Removal, Assessment and Prevention Program, which aims to detect and remove derelict fishing traps that are lost, abandoned or discarded.

Henderson established a baseline of current trap-related laws and policies across the United States through the creation of a database of coastal states that regulate fisheries, along with the laws and policies applicable to derelict traps.

Third-year student Leighlee M. Mahony added to Henderson’s database of state derelict trap law and policy to further the work with the TRAP Program. She presented a summary of their findings at the UGA River Basin Center Annual Graduate Water Research Poster Contest.

She also developed short memorandums on state programs that were used at the annual TRAP Program meeting at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, and she drafted an article on basic derelict trap policy questions that vary from state to state.

Mark Risse, director of Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant, anticipates there will be a growing need to support the coastal ecosystems as more people move to and develop the coast, and he hopes to expand the fellowship program.

—Caroline L. Passaro