Coastal Communities Conference

Living On The Edge: Coastal Communities Conference

ReMain Nantucket and Egan Maritime Institute launched the first Coastal Communities Conference in the fall of 2010.  The focus of the conference is the land/sea interface, with topics changing annually.  Attendees have an opportunity to network with presenters and each other, as well as to explore downtown Nantucket which serves as the campus for the conference. 

The 2011 Coastal Communities Conference was held on September 29th and 30th.  This year's conference, entitled "Creating a Blueprint for our Coast", focused on what uses should go where in the nearshore waters and how the tools of coastal and marine spatial planning can provide a rational basis for that decision-making.  Collaborating on the 2011 conference are Massachusetts Ocean Partnership, The Nature Conservancy, Maria Mitchell Association, UMASS Boston Nantucket Field Station, and Urban Harbors Insititute.

We were excited to announce a sneak preview of the movie Ocean Frontiers:  The Dawn of a New Era in Ocean Stewardship, a groundbreaking film that takes a balanced, bi-partisan approach to the problems we face in managing our oceans that was shown during the opening reception on September 29th.  View the trailer at www.ocean-frontiers.org.

In 2010, the conference examined the effects of sea level rise on coastal communities and was presented in collaboration with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, The Nature Conservancy, Climate Central, and Maria Mitchell Association.  The 2010 forum's focus was to educate decision-makers in government and various impacted industries, as well as the general public, regarding the need to implement appropriate policies as coastal communities enter this century of heightened risk and uncertainty from the impacts of sea level rise.  Watch the video from the 2010 event.