![Aerial-style view of the coastal campus cluster — Landing page imagery, establishing hero.](/sites/default/files/2026-01/Aerial_Style_Coastline_Campus_Cluster.png?alternateWidths=/sites/default/files/styles/canvas_parametrized_width--%7Bwidth%7D/public/2026-01/Aerial_Style_Coastline_Campus_Cluster.png.avif%3Fitok%3DxDU7ZKa0) Case Study # Marine Policy Ocean governance taught inside a science faculty, so that the policy arguments rest on the evidence rather than gesturing at it. Includes the policy clinic. [ Start an application ](/standard-page/how-to-apply) [ Download the handbook ](/standard-page/admissions) Marine Policy is a social science degree in a science institution, and that placement is the whole point. Ocean governance arguments turn on scientific claims — how many fish there are, what a restoration achieved, where the water goes — and a policy graduate who cannot evaluate those claims is dependent on whoever hands them a summary. So you take real science alongside the policy. Oceanography, environmental science, and enough quantitative work to read a stock assessment and know what its uncertainty means. ## What you study Introduction to ocean policy, then marine law and governance, fisheries policy and management, and coastal community resilience. Fisheries policy is co-taught with the fisheries faculty and includes an actual assessment, on the reasoning that a fisheries policy course without one is a course about opinions. The recurring theme across the program is the implementation gap — the distance between a rule as written and the same rule applied by an agency with a budget, a staff of four and a coastline to cover. Most governance failures are not failures of law. ## The policy clinic You can take real casework for community organizations and small agencies that cannot afford analysis. Clinic students have testified at state hearings and drafted comment letters that changed a final rule. It is the part of the degree that graduates mention most often afterward. ## Where it leads Agency and legislative staff work, nonprofit advocacy, consulting, law school, and graduate study in policy or management. Both of our master's programs take graduates of this degree. ## What to expect A great deal of writing, and science courses that do not go easy on you because you are a policy student. That is intentional. ## Curriculum MPOL 130 [Introduction to Ocean Policy](/course/introduction-to-ocean-policy)Who decides what happens in the ocean, under what authority, and what happens when the authority runs out. 1 OCEA 110 [Introduction to Oceanography](/course/introduction-to-oceanography)The ocean as a physical, chemical, geological and biological system. Taken by students across every program here. 1 ENVS 140 [Environmental Science Foundations](/course/environmental-science-foundations)The systems view: energy, matter, populations and the human pressures acting on all three, with coastal examples throughout. 1 MPOL 240 [Marine Law and Governance](/course/marine-law-and-governance)How marine law actually operates once it reaches an agency with a budget, a small staff and a long coastline. 1 MPOL 330 [Fisheries Policy and Management](/course/fisheries-policy-and-management)Fisheries management taught with the assessment science inside it, because a fisheries policy course without one is a course about opinions. 1.5 MPOL 410 [Coastal Community Resilience](/course/coastal-community-resilience)What a coastal community can actually do about a changing shoreline, and why the barriers are usually financial and institutional rather than technical. 1 ## Common questions ### Click to expand accordion Is housing guaranteed for first-year students? Yes, for all students entering directly from high school. Transfer students are housed as space allows, and the waitlist usually clears by mid-July. [Housing and residence life](#) ### Click to expand accordion How do I get between campuses? Accordion content - Officiis porta iusto luctus maecenas ultricies libero quisquam commodi do sequi facilisis, accusamus aut? Sapien dignissim nascetur nesciunt phasellus eros dis cupidatat tempor egestas cillum eveniet lobortis, sunt eos tellus atque quaerat, voluptatem exercitationem voluptatibus nesciunt, eveniet in dicta quae. ### Click to expand accordion What is the weather actually like? Accordion content - Officiis porta iusto luctus maecenas ultricies libero quisquam commodi do sequi facilisis, accusamus aut? Sapien dignissim nascetur nesciunt phasellus eros dis cupidatat tempor egestas cillum eveniet lobortis, sunt eos tellus atque quaerat, voluptatem exercitationem voluptatibus nesciunt, eveniet in dicta quae. ### Click to expand accordion What if I get seasick? Accordion content - Officiis porta iusto luctus maecenas ultricies libero quisquam commodi do sequi facilisis, accusamus aut? Sapien dignissim nascetur nesciunt phasellus eros dis cupidatat tempor egestas cillum eveniet lobortis, sunt eos tellus atque quaerat, voluptatem exercitationem voluptatibus nesciunt, eveniet in dicta quae. ### At a glance Credential awardedBA Degree levelundergraduate Program length4 years Start termsfall, spring ## Program Lead ![Early-career IT staff portrait, services office background — Person `person_portrait`.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2026-01/Early_career_staff_portrait_IT_services.png.avif?itok=VQ4z0xDf) ### Dr. Nathaniel Brooks Professor of Marine Policy Related ## Other programs ![Coastal engineering hero — sea wall inspection at low tide — Program imagery, coastal engineering cluster.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2026-01/Coastal_Engineering_Sea_Wall_Inspection.png.avif?itok=7E8SMAHh) MS / Certificate ### Coastal Resilience A professional master's for people who will make decisions about a shoreline that is moving. Taught jointly by the policy and ocean science departments. - 2 years - Graduate Starts Fall, Spring [](/program/coastal-resilience) ![Coastal geoscience hero — eroding cliff face survey — Program imagery, oceanography/geoscience cluster.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2026-01/Coastal_Geoscience_Eroding_Cliff_Face_Survey.png.avif?itok=sRA96IQQ) MS ### Marine Resource Management A professional master's in managing fisheries and other marine resources, built on the assessment science and the economics together. - 2 years - Graduate Starts Fall [](/program/marine-resource-management) ## Come and see the tidal flats for yourself Open days run four times a year, and the Wrightsville tour always includes the field station. [ Book an open day ](/standard-page/visit-campus) [ Contact the department ](/standard-page/contact-us)