2019 Beaches Conference Concurrent 2 Long Description – Collaboration to Monitor the Coast
Collaboration to Monitor the Coast
The beaches and coasts of Maine and New Hampshire cover a lot of mileage, and it can be difficult to determine if changes observed in one location can be generalized across the region. This session highlights three programs using innovative collaborations and methods that can easily be translated from one location to another. They are able to pull together local interest and expertise from multiple locations along the coast in order to gain a picture of the conditions and changes across the region in coastal acidification, the rocky intertidal zone, and beach litter.
Ruth Indrick, Kennebec Estuary Land Trust
Northeastern Coastal Stations Alliance Intertidal Monitoring
The Northeastern Coastal Stations Alliance (NeCSA) is a network of small field stations spanning the coastal Gulf of Maine from the Maine/New Hampshire border to Nova Scotia. Member stations are collectively monitoring the rocky intertidal system to understand community shifts as a result of the rapid environmental changes the Gulf is experiencing. In 2015, field station directors and researchers participated in a year-long strategic planning process to determine alliance priorities. Given the spatial extent of member station locations, a major priority that emerged was implementing standardized monitoring to track changes in the coastal zone. In 2016, we distributed autonomous temperature loggers (Onset® TidbiT® v2 Temp Data Loggers) and a simple, low cost deployment protocol to ten NeCSA field stations to explore standardized methodologies and best practices for data sharing, and to inform our growth as an alliance. In 2017, we piloted a protocol to monitor the intertidal biota. We will report on lessons learned about our collaborative efforts to date, which include the need to be adaptive in structure and function and to let initiatives emerge organically, and we hope to make coastal stakeholders aware of our efforts.
Shell Day & Ocean Acidification Monitoring in the Northeast
Nearshore environments in the Northeastern United States and the communities that rely on them are uniquely vulnerable to ocean and coastal acidification (OCA). Because acidification in the coastal environment is driven not only by global CO2 but also by many local factors, improving management of coastal nutrient pollution and stormwater and restoring marine habitats can support the resilience of coastal ecosystems to cope with global trends of acidification. However, we lack comprehensive monitoring at spatial and temporal scales to characterize OCA in the context of coastal variability and to provide actionable information for managers. Therefore, expanding collaboration among existing water quality monitoring programs and water quality stakeholders presents a unique opportunity to better to prepare communities for OCA. This presentation will outline recent efforts to coordinate data collection across the region, and the current steps to build awareness for local opportunities to address OCA.
Parker Gassett, Univeristy of Maine
Esperanza Stancioff, Maine Sea Grant and University of Maine Cooperative Extension
Community Beach Cleanups
The Northeastern Coastal Stations Alliance (NeCSA) is a network of small field stations spanning the coastal Gulf of Maine from the Maine/New Hampshire border to Nova Scotia. Member stations are collectively monitoring the rocky intertidal system to understand community shifts as a result of the rapid environmental changes the Gulf is experiencing. In 2015, field station directors and researchers participated in a year-long strategic planning process to determine alliance priorities. Given the spatial extent of member station locations, a major priority that emerged was implementing standardized monitoring to track changes in the coastal zone. In 2016, we distributed autonomous temperature loggers (Onset® TidbiT® v2 Temp Data Loggers) and a simple, low cost deployment protocol to ten NeCSA field stations to explore standardized methodologies and best practices for data sharing, and to inform our growth as an alliance. In 2017, we piloted a protocol to monitor the intertidal biota. We will report on lessons learned about our collaborative efforts to date, which include the need to be adaptive in structure and function and to let initiatives emerge organically, and we hope to make coastal stakeholders aware of our efforts.
Jennifer Kennedy, Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation
Katie Pelon, Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation