Fair Winds and Following Seas
The University of Southern California (USC) Sea Grant has often referred to itself as the “Urban Mariner,” reflective of our unique “Urban Ocean” theme in the Sea Grant network, and the fact that we share camaraderie like the crew of a ship. So when the time comes for one of our staff—our crew members—to retire, it can be quite profound and emotional. This January 2023, after a total of 36 years in service to USC Sea Grant, Dr. James Fawcett, known by colleagues as Jim, is leaving the ship.
Although he has had several roles in his long tenure at Sea Grant, for the last 21 years, Jim has served as the USC Sea Grant Extension Lead and the Marine Transportation and Seaport Specialist. In both roles, he served as a link between campus researchers, the marine transportation industry, the government, and the public on topics including seaport operations and management, movement of marine freight, and environmental impacts of the shipping industry. He has also worked on marine spatial planning issues and efforts to address environmental injustices and health impacts to communities adjacent to the twin ports of Los Angeles (POLA) and Long Beach (POLB).
An Unexpected Path to Sea Grant
Jim did not come to Sea Grant via a usual route, such as scientific research or fisheries, but rather through a unique path that included the Navy and urban planning. “Jim’s interesting background is partly what made him an incredible asset to our program,” says Phyllis Grifman, Executive Director of USC Sea Grant, who has worked with Jim for over 30 years. “He was perfectly suited for his work at the intersection of planning, ports, shipping, and the environment.”
While trying to finish his undergraduate degree in Political Science from California State University, Northridge, Jim, like many young men of his time, found he was facing the draft for the Vietnam War. He decided to take matters into his own hands and enter Officer Candidate School for the Navy. At age 23, Jim was commissioned as an ensign in the Navy, boarded his first warship in Singapore, and did two tours in the waters around Vietnam between 1968 and 1971. As the Assistant Communications Officer, Jim regularly ran the bridge, “steering the 450-foot behemoth of a ship in all kinds of heavy weather.” Little did Jim know at that time his familiarity with massive ship navigation would be highly valuable knowledge for the work he would do with Sea Grant in the ensuing decades.
After returning from the war, Jim received both his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in urban and regional planning from USC. In 1977, he joined USC Sea Grant and served various roles with the program, including Associate Director. In 1993, Jim was recruited by the County of Los Angeles to be the Chief of Planning for the Department of Beaches and Harbors. Seven years later, the National Sea Grant Office began to turn its attention to ports and shipping and their environmental impacts. As USC Sea Grant serves a region that hosts the POLA and the POLB, known as the largest port complex within the country, Phyllis quickly recruited Jim back to USC Sea Grant.
Long Work and Big Impact
It was at this time that Jim’s experience in the Navy, in urban planning, and in working with beaches and harbors all coalesced. “I’m interested in how we make decisions about using marine resources,” says Jim, “and Sea Grant was the platform from which I could do this.” Jim’s favorite work over the last 21 years with Sea Grant includes long-term efforts which take foresight, patience, and massive amounts of collaboration.
One example of this type of complex, collaborative effort was Jim’s work on the Marine Shipping Working Group of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS), a group tasked with finding ways in which whales and ships could safely share the migration and shipping corridors between the Channel Islands and the mainland. The Working Group—consisting of more than 30 members from the Sanctuary, academia, the shipping industry, military, environmental groups, marine industry representatives, and both federal and California agency representatives—frequently met from 2014 to 2016 to develop a thorough analysis and a list of recommendations for protecting the whales, which provided guidance to mariners transiting along our coast.
One of the members of the Working Group, Captain J. Kipling Louttit, Executive Director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California and the traffic manager of the twin ports, reflects on working with Jim on this issue. “From the first day I met Jim, I knew I was working with a classy professional,” says Captain Louttit. “He was the master of listening to all other input before offering his sage and reasoned input, opinion, or recommendation.”
Another project that required a long-term perspective and collaboration was the development of the new AltaSea campus in the POLA. Twelve years ago, the port contracted Jim to help envision how a large unused warehouse and surrounding space could be used for collaborative marine research. Jim worked with the port and research partners on planning, fundraising, and design. In 2021, AltaSea, the first major research laboratory in the busiest port complex in the country, was finally inaugurated. AltaSea is now an operating marine research laboratory and campus to be used for accelerating scientific collaboration among local universities and colleges and advancing an emerging blue economy through business innovation and job creation.
Jim’s ability to collaborate is also visible in his work on the issues of port air quality and shipping fuels. Cargo ships most commonly use diesel fuel which contains sulfur dioxide, polluting the air with a toxic brown haze that has been linked to lung cancer and other health issues. Jim has led USC Sea Grant in reinforcing and explaining the Southern California regional maritime air quality regime to foreign ship owners, carriers, and shippers in Asia who operate in the POLA and the POLB. While these parties are aware of the regulations, Jim provided an opportunity for them to ask questions and discuss their emissions and fuel options with a neutral but knowledgeable party.
In 2014, in partnership with Dr. Robert Aniszfeld, the Managing Director of USC’s Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute, Jim co-hosted an international conference on the future of cleaner fuels for all ships, but primarily cargo ships. The conference focused on the new topic of using methanol as the fuel of choice in maritime applications. Methanol has no sulfur, and because it burns at a lower temperature than diesel, gasoline, or natural gas, using it as a fuel leads to significantly lower emissions. “At the Loker Institute, we were interested in methanol as a diesel and gasoline substitute, but it was Jim that understood its potential in maritime shipping,” says Dr. Aniszfeld. “Jim saw it as a solution to address maritime emissions on a global scale, and hence the idea of hosting a joint conference on maritime fuels and policy was born.”
“We were way ahead of the curve on that,” says Jim, “and people left this conference saying, ‘hey, we actually can do this.’” These conversations continued, and in 2021, A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, the world’s largest container shipping line and vessel operator, announced that it had funded new construction of vessels capable of operating on methanol fuel, and other vessel operators are looking at making maritime fuels cleaner.
Extension: The Heart of Sea Grant
The work of Sea Grant falls into three areas: research, education, and extension. Outside of Sea Grant, people may be most familiar with scientific research but may not understand what extension is. According to Jim, “extension is the heart of Sea Grant.” When Jim says “extension,” he means the application of research science, the education of people in the communities Sea Grant serves, and the communication of scientific information in a way that is accessible to all. “Extension is what makes Sea Grant different from other groups that fund scientific research,” says Jim. “It’s the way you get to people.”
In an effort to reach people, Jim has written an online blog called Ship’s Log: A Maritime Series, published monthly by USC Sea Grant, which is a treasure trove of Jim’s decades of knowledge on a variety of topics. Beginning in 2020, when the POLA and the POLB began getting significantly more press and attention with changes in shipping traffic due to COVID-19, Jim realized that there are very few publicly accessible sources of information addressing such issues. The twin ports together are the busiest port of entry in the country for marine freight and an important driver of both the national and regional economy and are responsible for about 45% of all ship-borne commerce entering the US. Jim felt it was important for the public to understand the value and impact of its two seaports.
There are 23 issues (and counting) on topics such as ship pollution, terminals, anchoring, vessel pilots, container cranes, air pollution, and supply chain issues. The Ship’s Log Series is read and distributed across USC Sea Grant’s extended networks, targeting educators, public officials, students, and the general public. Captain Louttit, of the Marine Exchange of Southern California, distributes Jim’s articles widely. “Jim has incredible intelligence, intellect, and influence. He has a masterful ability to understand and interpret complex and competing public policy issues of ports and surrounding areas,” says Captain Louttit. “He can explain and detail options to solve issues to any audience.”
A Man of Legacy
Jim has served in many additional leadership roles beyond USC and Sea Grant, including President and other roles for the Lambda Alpha International Lands Economic Society; Boards of Directors of the Marine Conservation Research Institute of the Aquarium of the Pacific; the LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) Coastal Chamber of Commerce, Marine Affairs Committee; and various committees for Antioch University. Jim serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal and has a lengthy list of journal publications, op-eds, book chapters, and conference proceedings on topics such as seaport efficiency, maritime policy and management, maritime cargo security, port governance, growth and coastal management, and piracy.
Jim remains an Adjunct Professor in both the USC Dornsife College Environmental Studies Program and the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, teaching marine environmental policy and coastal management, as he has for the last 20 years. He also will remain active in the Lambda Alpha Land Economic Society and plans to write more issues of the Ship’s Log on topics like the goods movement, intermodal cargo containers, alternative fuels like hydrogen cells, and regulation of marine traffic. He hopes that continuing to explore the topics in his blog will raise the public understanding of these issues and allow for more informed decision-making and public involvement in the future.
We thank Jim for his legacy of impactful work. But more importantly, USC Sea Grant will miss Jim as a crew member. “I will miss Jim’s listening ear as a good friend as well as his unmistakable Jim humor,” says Ruth Dudas, USC Sea Grant’s Contracts and Grants Coordinator, who has worked with Jim for 20 years. “Jim is simply irreplaceable,” says Phyllis. “His insights and erudition on every topic have provided intelligence, counsel, wry wit, and even a bit of welcome cynicism. He is an officer and a gentleman and will always remain a friend.”
We wish him fair winds and following seas.