The Coastal States Organization represents the nation’s Coastal States, Territories, and Commonwealths on ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resource issues. |
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Spotlight on Coastal Management:
New NOAA Report on the U.S. Marine Economy: Regional and State Profiles
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The report highlights regional and state statistics for each of the marine economy’s six sectors—living resources, marine construction, marine transportation, offshore mineral extraction, ship and boat building, and tourism and recreation. The data presented in the report comes from NOAA's 2017 Economic: National Ocean Watch (ENOW) data set. The ENOW data are produced by NOAA in partnership with the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and U.S. Census Bureau, and are derived from some of these agencies' most respected and commonly used data sets.
Check out the report here to learn more about your region and state's marine economy. |
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In the States and Regions |
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Along the Crumbling Sonoma Coast, an Ambitious Project Paves the Way for ‘Managed Retreat’
A few winding turns past Bodega Bay, along foggy bluffs and coastal prairie, relentless waves pound a crumbling stretch of coastline in dire need of saving. Here at Gleason Beach, once referred to as Malibu North, the beach gets drowned during high tide. Bits of concrete and rebar are all that remain of 11 cliff-top homes that have already surrendered to the sea. A graveyard of seawalls, smashed into pieces, litters the shore. Highway 1 now hangs inches from what seems like the edge of the world. For decades, officials have scrambled to save the road from the ocean — pouring millions of tax dollars into a vicious cycle of sudden collapses and emergency repairs. Last year, this critical lifeline for the region was reduced to one lane. With the realities of climate change looming ever closer, California transportation officials are now moving a key stretch of highway more than 350 feet inland — one of the first major efforts by the state to relocate, or “manage retreat,” critical infrastructure far enough from the coast to make room for the next 100 years of sea level rise. Read more
Local Audubon Society Proposes Rocky Habitat Designation for Cape Lookout
From hiking to crabbing, and from fishing to whale and bird watching, Cape Lookout’s natural resources offer Oregonians and tourists a key opportunity for prime outdoor recreation. And in direct relation to these human activities, the 1.5 mile long Cape offers diverse ecosystems (specifically the rocky habitat) for the plants and animals who enhance those recreational opportunities- from the subtidal bull kelp fields on the south side of the cape, to the nesting sites for marine birds, and the submerged rocky reefs which offer nurseries for crustaceans and fish. For these reasons, Cape Lookout’s rocky habitat is being proposed as a Marine Conservation Area by the Lincoln City Audubon Society, which services both Lincoln and Tillamook counties. This proposal of a Marine Conservation Area designation is a part of the Oregon Territorial Sea Plan, a plan which is overseen by the OPAC (Ocean Policy Advisory Council). The OPAC is made up from representatives from coastal community interests, state agencies, conservation interests, and the general public. Read more
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First-of-Its-Kind Wind Project Planned for Lake Erie
Lake Erie and Cleveland could soon be home to the first offshore wind facility in the Great Lakes, and the first freshwater wind farm in North America. Read more
A Seiche Pushed a Wall of Water From One End of Lake Erie to the Other
A powerful storm system blasted the Midwest and East with damaging winds and generated a sloshing of Lake Erie known as a seiche (pronounced "saysh"). The wind-driven seiche on Lake Erie Sunday sent a wall of water east-northeast over the long and narrow lake, rapidly raising water levels about 7 feet at Buffalo, while at the other end of the lake, the water levels at Toledo dropped nearly 7 feet. It resulted in an amazing net difference of over 13 feet from one end to the other. As a result of the massive rise in water, shorelines at the east end of the lake, from Erie, Pennsylvania, through Buffalo and along the north shore from Fort Erie to Long Point, Ontario sustained significant flooding and damage. Read more
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Alabama Gulf Coast Projects Will Enhance Conservation, Habitat Protection
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced that the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) has awarded nearly $26 million from the Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund (GEBF) to four new projects in Alabama. The projects, developed in consultation with state and federal resource agencies, are designed to remedy harm and reduce the risk of future harm to natural resources that were affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The Alabama projects address high-priority conservation needs, including the protection of important habitats. Read more
Texas A&M Researchers To Address Chemical Pollution Following Gulf Coast Storms
A team of researchers including Weihsueh Chiu, professor in the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences’ (CVMBS) Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences (VIBS), has been awarded a three-year Healthy Ecosystems grant by The Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to address the risk of flood-induced chemical spills at Gulf Coast facilities. In a partnership between the CVMBS, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Galveston Bay Foundation, and Texas A&M’s College of Engineering, School of Public Health, and College of Architecture, researchers will conduct modeling and analysis to identify facilities that are the most at risk and the solutions, such as natural infrastructure, that might reduce those risks and lessen impacts to nearby communities and ecosystems. By mapping and modeling potential floods at-risk facilities, the team will support efforts to mitigate pollution through natural infrastructure. Read more
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U.Va. Researchers Successfully Restore Marine Seagrass Meadows Off Virginia’s Eastern Shore
A group of University environmental scientists collaborated to form the Long-Term Ecological Research project in order to integrate long-term observations and experiments on seagrass ecosystems to track how they change over time and predict future vulnerabilities. Karen McGlathery, director of the Long-Term Ecological Research project, got involved in the project through her interest in the possibility of cultivating and maintaining these seagrass meadows off Virginia’s eastern coast. “We partnered with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, who actually did the seeding to figure out where [regrowth] could happen and do some of the preliminary work,” McGlathery said. “The Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program provided a lot of money for the seeding, [while] all the studies that U.Va. and the Long-Term Ecological Research program has done has been funded by the National Science Foundation.” Read more
CRD Adds to Artificial Reefs at Bear River, Van Dyke Creek
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recently coordinated a materials enhancement at Bear River and Van Dyke Creek Inshore Artificial Reefs located in St. Catherine’s Sound. “At Van Dyke Creek the deployment supplemented 25-year-old metal material that had begun to degrade, thereby losing some of its value as a reef structure. The new material will restore the habitat benefits provided by this reef,” said Cameron Brinton, Marine Biologist with the Habitat Enhancement and Restoration Unit of DNR’s Coastal Resources Division. “However, I am more excited about the material at Bear River which is an expansion beyond the originally deployed material and creating new habitat.” Read more
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December 3, 2020
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NFWF Announces New Regional Coastal Resilience Assessments for Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation announced four new Regional Coastal Resilience Assessments to help identify areas with the greatest potential to improve wildlife habitat and community resilience to flooding threats. The recently completed Coastal Resilience Assessments include: Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The regional assessments were developed in partnership with NOAA and the University of North Carolina-Asheville’s National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center, with help from local advisory committees and stakeholders. Learn more and read the assessments here.
EPA Releases New Review of the Current State of Knowledge Regarding Tidal Restrictions
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the publication of the Tidal Restrictions Synthesis Review: An Analysis of U.S. Tidal Restrictions and Opportunities for their Avoidance and Removal, which was completed through an Interagency Agreement with the Federal Highway Administration. This Review serves as a synthesis of the current state of knowledge regarding tidal restrictions (such as dikes, dams, levees, and undersized culverts/road crossings) in the U.S. It provides information on tidal restriction extent, potential effects on the coastal environment, and available tools for avoiding or removing restrictions. It also provides recommendations for tidal restriction avoidance and removal that are intended to help state and federal natural resource agencies, state and local transportation departments, local planning and flood control entities, and their partners, take actions that will work to remove adverse tidal restrictions from the landscape when practicable. Learn more and read the review here.
NOAA Releases New Marine Debris Program Strategic Plan
The NOAA Marine Debris Program released its 2021-2025 Strategic Plan. Since the inception of the NOAA Marine Debris Program in 2006, NOAA has strived to help find solutions to the marine debris problem. The fiscal year 2021-2025 Strategic Plan highlights how the MDP will work with dedicated staff and partners for the next five years to make a measurable change toward reaching our vision: the global ocean and its coasts free from the impacts of marine debris. Six goals will guide the next five years: prevention, removal, research, response, coordination, and a new goal: monitoring and detection. The fiscal year 2021-2025 Strategic Plan also includes a new focus on using innovative technology and a commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equity. Read the plan here.
NOAA Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments Grants
The NOAA Climate Program Office (CPO) Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) Program supports the development of knowledge, expertise, and abilities of decision-makers to plan and prepare for climate variability and change. The RISA program is holding two funding competitions: 1) A competition for one RISA team in each of the following nine regions: Northeast, Mid Atlantic, Intermountain West, Carolinas, Great Lakes, Alaska, Pacific Islands, South Central, and Pacific Northwest; 2) a competition for collaborative planning activities in the Southeast and the U.S. Caribbean. As the adaptation community in the United States advances and evolves, RISA seeks to support new creative, solution-oriented approaches that are both responsive to communities and that integrate across silos of scientific knowledge and expertise. The RISA program encourages applicants and awardees to support the principles of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion when writing their proposals and performing their work. Letters of Intent (LOIs) are due December 9. Competition 1 deadline is February 8 and Competition 2 deadline is February 16. Learn more here.
NOAA RESTORE Science Program Grants
The NOAA RESTORE Science Program is making approximately $2.5 million available for this competition to fund approximately 20 planning projects that will run for one year each. This competition will provide natural resource managers, researchers, and other stakeholders with funding to plan a research project that informs a specific management decision impacting natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico. A second competition for funding to execute and apply actionable science will follow this competition. These two competitions will be independent of one another. The deadline for applications is Dec. 15, 2020. See the full announcement here.
The application period for FEMA’s fiscal year 2020 Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grants under the Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) and new Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) programs is now open. Eligible applicants must apply for funding through the FEMA Grants Outcomes (GO) system. All applications must be submitted no later than 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on January 29, 2021. For FY20, a total of $660 million in funding is available for FMA and BRIC. Visit the FMA and BRIC web pages to find helpful resources.
NOAA Undergraduate Scholarship Applications Are Open!
Are you interested in a scholarship and paid summer internship with NOAA? Consider applying for the Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship or the Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions (EPP/MSI) Undergraduate Scholarship. Applications are due February 1, 2021. Learn more here.
The National Sea Grant Office and the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program are funding a joint competition to fund proposals that seek to establish, continue, and/or expand collaborations between researchers and the shellfish aquaculture industry. Specifically, applications to this competition should utilize new or existing research/industry partnerships to study how ocean and coastal acidification in combination with other stressors impacts shellfish aquaculture. Applications must include at least one researcher and one shellfish grower acting as co-Principal Investigators, and the proposed work must utilize a co-production of knowledge framework. Total funding for this competition includes up to $2,000,000 in federal funds to support 2-6 projects. Each project will be funded at the approximate level of $100,000 - $300,000 per year for 1-3 years. Applications are due March 16, 2021. Learn more here.
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The views expressed in articles referenced here are those of the authors and do not represent or reflect the views of CSO.
If you have a news item or job posting to include in future CSO Newsletters, please send an email to: rkeylon@coastalstates.org with a subject line: "Newsletter Content". Please include the information to be considered in the body of the email. Please note: CSO reserves final decision regarding published newsletter content and may not use all information submitted.
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Coastal States Organization | 50 F Street. NW, Suite 570, Washington, DC 20001 | 202-508-3860 | cso@coastalstates.org | www.coastalstates.org |
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