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2014

Hawai‘i Coastal Hazard and Mitigation Guidebook

The purpose of the 242 page guidebook is as a resource to reduce the risk to coastal development by planning for natural hazards such as erosion, flooding, tsunami, and hurricanes. The guidebook uses scientific and technically-based standards for hazard mitigation and provides recommendations for implementation (e.g., guidance, industry standards, policy and the use of existing regulations) that minimize burden to the regulated community.

Hawai‘i Coastal Hazard and Mitigation Guidebook Read More>

The Kailua Community Survey Report

The Kailua Community Survey Report

A report on resident’s attitudes, perceptions, preferences, and values towards a variety of socio-environmental topics. The study is part of a regional beach management and climate change adaptation planning efforts, and informs implementation and future modification of the 2010 Kailua Beach and Dune Management Plan.

The Kailua Community Survey Report Read More>

John Weinstein

The Global Plastic Breakdown: How Microplastics Are Shredding Ocean Health

Plastics are found in many common household items, and despite our best efforts to recycle, a good fraction—no one knows how large—becomes litter which can have devastating impacts on coastal ecosystems and the animals that live there. In a new study, South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium scientists are researching the presence and effects of microplastics in coastal environments. 

The Global Plastic Breakdown: How Microplastics Are Shredding Ocean Health Read More>

The weTable

The weTable

This affordable public participation tool, developed by Texas Sea Grant's Texas Coastal Watershed Program, allows teams to collaboratively explore and use computer-based data and programs in a workshop setting. 

The weTable Read More>

CHARM Model

CHARM Model

The Community Health and Resources Management (CHARM) mapping application is a robust citizen planning tool, built on CommunityViz and ARCMAP, that enables citizens and professionals alike to explore large and small development scenarios that reveal impacts, instantaneously, to the environment by the development, as well as impacts to the development (e.g., storm surge).

CHARM Model Read More>

Financial Resilience Manual

Financial Resilience Manual

This decision support tool can be used to identify the optimal policy alternative to allocate financial reserves necessary for local governments along the coast to minimize the financial burden of cleanup, recovery, and reconstruction costs from future tropical storm events.

Financial Resilience Manual Read More>

Coastal Community Resilience Index

The Coastal Community Resilience Index is a self-assessment tool that brings together elected officials, public works directors, emergency managers, and other leaders at the community-government level to take an in-depth look at their community’s level of resilience. They discuss 57 indicators organized around six categories to identify vulnerabilities, capitalize on strengths and assess future impacts of disasters.

Coastal Community Resilience Index Read More>

Rhode Island Salt Marsh

Tracking Salt Marshes: Impacts of Sea Level Rise

Over the past 200 years, Rhode Island has lost over 50 percent of its salt marshes due to coastal development, resulting in a loss of approximately 4,000 acres statewide. Rhode Island Sea Grant and partners are working to develop the Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM). The model will be used to help identify the most vulnerable areas to target for protection and restoration.

Tracking Salt Marshes: Impacts of Sea Level Rise Read More>

WeTables

These are participatory mapping tools that a number of Sea Grant programs are using for community-based work addressing both climate and stormwater issues.

WeTables Read More>

The Crow's Nest Blog

The Crow’s Nest Blog

Since 2011, New Hampshire Sea Grant has helped to develop and contribute to “The Crow's Nest” blog about climate adaptation in New Hampshire, which is available on StormSmart Coasts, as a tool to communicate timely information about events and resources available to communities related to adaptation

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The Watershed Game

The Watershed Game

The Watershed Game is an interactive tool that was developed by Minnesota Sea Grant as part of the Northland Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) program to help participants understand the connection between land use and water quality, as well as the degree to which implementing best management practices across land uses and sectors within a watershed is critical for reaching a water quality goal.

The Watershed Game Read More>

Climate Change Impacts in Hawai‘i

This report provides a basic summary of the observed and projected changes to Hawai‘i’s ecosystems and their resulting impacts for the state’s residents. The report focuses on five (5) systems: (1) marine ecosystems – (a) open ocean and (b) coral reefs and other nearshore habitats; (2) coasts and the built environment; (3) terrestrial ecosystems; (4) freshwater resources; and, (5) human health.

Climate Change Impacts in Hawai‘i Read More>

NOAA Coastal Storms Program Coastal Inundation Risk and Vulnerability Study

NOAA Coastal Storms Program Coastal Inundation Risk and Vulnerability Study

In an effort to comprehensively and accurately assess the risks of future coastal hazards and the vulnerability of the community, the project included the following key steps: (1) mapping of projected sea level rise (SLR) scenarios to provide a baseline assessment of the potential impacts of inundation due to SLR, (2) modeling and mapping potential coastal hazards under elevated sea level conditions, specifically (a) tsunami inundation and (b) hurricane storm surge inundation, and (3) a socio-economic exposure analysis of the above inundation zones, as well as a 500-year flood hazard zone.

NOAA Coastal Storms Program Coastal Inundation Risk and Vulnerability Study Read More>

The City of Chester Vision 2020 Climate Adaptation Planning Elements

The City of Chester Vision 2020 Climate Adaptation Planning Elements

With funding from the 2012 National Sea Grant Climate Adaptation Competition, Chester was selected as a model coastal community for integrating climate change adaptation planning into economic revitalization efforts. Here are recommendations from the Chester Climate Task Force adopted as an addendum to the Vision 2020 comprehensive plan for the City by Chester City Council on June 25, 2014. (PDF, 80 pages).

The City of Chester Vision 2020 Climate Adaptation Planning Elements Read More>

Coastal Hazards and Community Resiliency in Delaware

Coastal Hazards and Community Resiliency in Delaware

To help reduce Delaware communities’ vulnerability to coastal hazards, the Delaware Sea Grant College Program, University of Delaware’s Coastal Community Enhancement Initiative, and Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control have cooperated with the Delaware Emergency Management Agency to increase awareness of coastal hazards and provide communities information and resources that will improve societal, economic and personal resiliency to coastal hazards.

Coastal Hazards and Community Resiliency in Delaware Read More>

Connecticut Habitat Management Planning

Habitat Based Management Planning

Connecticut Sea Grant and CLEAR developed a web-based tool which leads resource managers through the process of developing a long-term habitat based management plan with information provided on coastal habitat types, management and restoration so as to maximize the long term resilience of natural areas.

Habitat Based Management Planning Read More>

Shelby Walker

Knauss Fellowship: A life-changing experience

For Shelby Walker, a 2002 Knauss Fellowship seemed like a chance to take a break from the lab and consider her future. It wound up being a life-changing experience, one that would put her at the heart of groundbreaking ocean observation efforts and national ocean priority-setting, a key role in the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster – and in 2014, at the helm of Oregon Sea Grant.

Knauss Fellowship: A life-changing experience Read More>

Harmful Algal Bloom Lake Erie

NOAA Sea Grant Awards $15.9 million for projects to build resilient coastal communities

NOAA Sea Grant announced today grants totaling $15.9 million to support over 300 projects around the nation that help build resilient coastal communities and economies. Through university, state and other partnerships, Sea Grant Programs will supplement the federal funding with an additional $7.9 million in non-federal matching funds, bringing the total investment to more than $23.8 million.

NOAA Sea Grant Awards $15.9 million for projects to build resilient coastal communities Read More>

Coastal Community Resilience Index’s success inspires development of additional tools

Due to the incredible sucess of the Coastal Resilience Index, Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant is working with several partners to pilot test the Fisheries Resilience Index and the Tourism Resilience Index. The Fisheries Index focuses on indicators important to commercial and recreational fishermen, seafood processors and marina owners. The Tourism Index addresses 10 categories, including communications, marketing, disaster operations and workforce issues.

Coastal Community Resilience Index’s success inspires development of additional tools Read More>

Kathy Bunting-Howarth

Spotlight on New York Sea Grant’s Associate Director: Kathy Bunting-Howarth, J.D. Ph.D.

Katherine E. Bunting-Howarth (Kathy) became the Associate Director for New York Sea Grant and an Assistant Director for Cornell Cooperative Extension in April of 2011. She leads a group of talented Extension Associates located in a number of offices along the many diverse coasts of New York State.

Spotlight on New York Sea Grant’s Associate Director: Kathy Bunting-Howarth, J.D. Ph.D. Read More>

Mesocosms, Sensors and Otoliths: Tools to Improve North Carolina Water Quality

North Carolina Sea Grant develops varied techniques and technologies that address water quality issues. Research teams study the ability of restored wetlands to control runoff, test new sensor technology to monitor water quality in tidal marshes, and verify that fish ear bones, known as otoliths, can identify early-life habitats of fish.

Mesocosms, Sensors and Otoliths: Tools to Improve North Carolina Water Quality Read More>

High Fidelity Numerical Model

MIT Sea Grant Researchers Hope to Mitigate Coastal Flooding Problems with New Model

MIT Sea Grant Assistant Director for Research Stefano Brizzolara and visiting PhD student Riccardo Angelini Rota are working on a new numerical model to simulate the complex physics that happen in the near-shore region to waves. Due to climate change, they explain, the level of the ocean will rise significantly in the next fifty to one hundred years. Their goal is to simulate the risks of flooding in different areas of the Northeast region in advance in order to be prepared and react with mitigation or adaptation strategies. The model is based on a Smoothed Particles Hydrodynamic (SPH) solver, which helps them reproduce the hydrodynamic phenomena in coastal areas, specifically in the surf region. Brizzolara and Rota plan to reproduce problems like over-topping in a sea wall or in a sea structure and the run up of waves. They explain that the reason this new model is so unique is because many of the models that currently exist are able to arrive quite close to the coast but not in the particular region where the non-linear phenomena they want to record occur. With this new numerical method, the researchers seek to extend the predictions of the current numerical models to the areas more affected by inundations and flooding.

MIT Sea Grant Researchers Hope to Mitigate Coastal Flooding Problems with New Model Read More>

Ed Bassett - harvests alewives for personal use and is an environmental specialist with the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point

Harvesters’ Perspectives on Alewives, Blueback Herring, and American Eels in Downeast Maine

Maine Sea Grant and NOAA Fisheries collaborated to document and showcase the local knowledge of fishermen and women who harvest of alewives, blueback herring, and American eels in Downeast Maine. The fisherman's first hand observations and intimate relationship with these species over the years can inform efforts to restore these fish populations.

Harvesters’ Perspectives on Alewives, Blueback Herring, and American Eels in Downeast Maine Read More>

Anchor

Anchors Aweigh in Superior!

Six new geocaches are now located in Superior. Geocaching is a high-tech version of orienteering that relies on a hand-held Global Position System unit instead of a compass. These geocaches are part of a Wisconsin Sea Grant-funded project designed to highlight the history of the state’s shipping industry.

Anchors Aweigh in Superior! Read More>

Bull Island

NOAA Sea Grant Launches Public Search to Highlight Program Impacts

NOAA Sea Grant is pleased to debut its new web-based public search capabilities, showcasing nearly 4,000 impacts and accomplishment from Sea Grant programs and their collaborations with over 7,000 partners, including 130 offices across NOAA.   The public search will highlight all Sea Grant program impacts and accomplishments since 2010 as well as all over 9,000 projects funded since 1993.

NOAA Sea Grant Launches Public Search to Highlight Program Impacts Read More>

Laurel

Delaware Sea Grant helps town of Laurel balance environment and development along riverfront

Looking to improve water quality both locally in the river and as part of a regional effort to restore the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the town of Laurel, Delaware is reimagining its historic riverfront with help from the Delaware Sea Grant College Program and University of Delaware landscape design faculty and students.

Delaware Sea Grant helps town of Laurel balance environment and development along riverfront Read More>

Throw Buoy

Rip Current Awareness Week: Spotlight on Michigan Sea Grant Communication Specialist Elizabeth LaPorte

Elizabeth LaPorte works with colleagues at U-M and MSU to ensure the alignment of Sea Grant’s activities with the mission of the National Sea Grant College Program and the needs of Michigan’s stakeholders. She identifies opportunities to leverage research through public outreach and education. 

Rip Current Awareness Week: Spotlight on Michigan Sea Grant Communication Specialist Elizabeth LaPorte Read More>

Credit: Oregon Crab Commission

Why West Coast Crab Fishers and Tugboat Captains Aren’t Feeling Crabby

It might seem incongruous to talk of traffic disputes and costly collisions in an area as vast as the waters off the Pacific coast. But that’s the situation that afflicted the coast’s tribal and commercial crab fishers and its tug-and-barge and shipping operators for decades as they shared the same sealanes.

Why West Coast Crab Fishers and Tugboat Captains Aren’t Feeling Crabby Read More>

Heather Wade

Hurricane Preparedness Week: Spotlight on Texas Sea Grant Extension Agent Heather Wade

As Texas Sea Grant’s Coastal Planning Specialist, Heather Wade helps communities on the Texas coast plan for the future. With a toolkit that includes the Coastal Resilience Index, weTable and Community Health and Resources Management (CHARM) model, she leads community leaders through workshops that help them determine their readiness and plan for future needs with respect to coastal hazards, green infrastructure, water quality impairment and other issues related to sustainable development.

Hurricane Preparedness Week: Spotlight on Texas Sea Grant Extension Agent Heather Wade Read More>

Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Preparedness Week: Spotlight on New York Sea Grant Communications Specialist Paul Focazio

As New York Sea Grant's Web Content Manager, Paul Focazio oversees the development and production of New York Sea Grant's Web site, e-newsletter (Currents) and all social media platforms. The program's virtual presence not only includes downloads of NYSG's Coastlines newsletter, for which Focazio writes, but also features sub-sites for all extension staff and a number of special research and education initiatives.

Hurricane Preparedness Week: Spotlight on New York Sea Grant Communications Specialist Paul Focazio Read More>

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