<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><table class="TemplateWidth MainBorder" border="0" bordercolor="#E4E4E4" width="600" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="width: 600px; border: 1px solid rgb(228, 228, 228);"><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td width="100%" rowspan="1" colspan="1" class=""><table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="content_LETTER.BLOCK3" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class="MainText" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" style="color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><div class=""><div class="">The National Sea Grant Program and individual Sea Grant programs are developing strategic plans for 2018-2021. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The four major focus areas for the plan are (1) Healthy Coastal Ecosystems; (2) Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture; (3) Resilient Communities and Economies; and (4) Environmental Literacy and Workforce Development. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">As a reminder to a previous solicitation, with this 5-minute survey we are soliciting your input in identifying the most important issues within these focus areas for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. </div></div><div align="center" style="font-size: 16pt; color: rgb(239, 70, 68);" class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""> <a href="http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07ecn54k6eintkkrab/start" style="font-size: 10pt;" class="">http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07ecn54k6eintkkrab/start</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr class=""><td width="100%" rowspan="1" colspan="1" class=""><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" id="content_LETTER.BLOCK4" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class="MainText" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" style="color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><div class="">Thank you in advance for participating in our survey to inform our efforts in support of constituents across the Commonwealth. Please visit our web sites to learn more about each programs' research, outreach and education efforts. You are welcome to contact us with questions or to discuss our current and planned activities. </div><div class=""> </div><div class="">Sincerely,</div><div class=""> </div>Judith E. McDowell<br class="">Director, <a track="on" shape="rect" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0011XRVK6XWjX7ebUqrxNIweQ2pWtdlw7pBeyFPEM1pY2HnVtfvHl2a36oFOLHCOzpsvtrEVCymAZwariiZrI198447w8uIvUMZ8Z6IJNAalUDCsxCI2ccgjP3Z7zDy-kFhUJOkfSr7t6ulby7OdHO87D5DiMaTvMNcch2FpQHiaAehTUqQNo9Ecw==&c=sWeF0GfP4nUdzLQQA2pOo9dhg2Faizj2G770ykJqG9Zs_Xr_9au6Ew==&ch=_bfv5Sug1ZhAV7B3cJD16PCxRXJ9ZKElNPOEzl_DK2CwC8pLzXGnVw==" linktype="1" alt="http://web.whoi.edu/seagrant/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="">Woods Hole Sea Grant</a><br class="">email: <a href="mailto:jmcdowell@whoi.edu" class="">jmcdowell@whoi.edu</a><br class=""><br class="">Rob Vincent, Ph.D.<br class="">Advisory Leader, <a track="on" shape="rect" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0011XRVK6XWjX7ebUqrxNIweQ2pWtdlw7pBeyFPEM1pY2HnVtfvHl2a39FZCjQmuZnpgMS-bcg3ugYbtXiUPIvbX0PTgKqqcrS9Tauxey37sUsMzPWm_ADx53Foi_inQiBTAUM9xlIPT2DDXe1Db8--Wmwyo35CvBZ1c2FQxKhBQjE=&c=sWeF0GfP4nUdzLQQA2pOo9dhg2Faizj2G770ykJqG9Zs_Xr_9au6Ew==&ch=_bfv5Sug1ZhAV7B3cJD16PCxRXJ9ZKElNPOEzl_DK2CwC8pLzXGnVw==" linktype="1" alt="http://seagrant.mit.edu/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="">MIT Sea Grant College Program</a><br class="">email: <a href="mailto:rvincent@mit.edu" class="">rvincent@mit.edu</a> </td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></body></html>