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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Credit: Barb Labus

Since 2005, an Indiana campaign focusing on the critical importance of protecting coastal resources has captivated thousands of state residents with vibrant, information-dense illustrations that are unveiled roughly every two years. The Indiana Lake Michigan Coastal Program helms the poster campaign, with funding assistance from NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management, and from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency via the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The poster illustrations, by local artist Barb Labus, were designed to appeal to students in grades 2-5, enabling teachers to weave lessons about the coastal environment into their science curriculum. See them all here and read more about the outreach campaign here.

It Will Cost $110 Billion to Protect San Francisco Bay from Rising Sea Levels, New Study Shows

Protecting the homes and businesses, highways and airports, sewage treatment plants and other key parts of society that ring San Francisco Bay’s shoreline from sea level rise will be a massive challenge over the next generation. And it’s not going to come cheap, according to a new report. The cost estimate: $110 billion by 2050. That’s the conclusion of a new study from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Association of Bay Area Governments and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission. Read more here.

US Pacific Islands to Receive $2M in Coral Restoration Grants

The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation awarded seven grants totaling more than $2 million to support coral restoration in the four U.S. Pacific Island jurisdictions of American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and Hawai’i. The grants are funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The grants will support projects that directly contribute to coral restoration progression in the U.S. Pacific Islands by providing the means for capacity building and/or restoration implementation. The four U.S. Pacific Island jurisdictions started a coral restoration planning process in 2020 that led to the development of a draft action plan for each jurisdiction for one priority restoration goal. Now, additional investment and capacity is needed to meet the U.S. Pacific Islands coral restoration goals and implement the draft restoration action plans. Read more here.

Islands Off Louisiana Coast, Newly Rebuilt, Providing Homes for Brown Pelicans

The restoration of three heavily eroded islands along Louisiana's coast is providing habitat for dwindling populations of brown pelicans and other colonial waterfowl -- a sign of hope for the state bird. Louisiana’s brown pelican colonies have been in deep decline in recent years, according to Todd Baker, a biologist overseeing barrier island restoration projects for the state's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. “In 2002, we had 30 brown pelican colonies in Louisiana. By 2010, we were down to 22, and as we stand here today, there’s only nine left in Louisiana,” Baker told the CPRA board of directors on Wednesday. “And of those nine, three have been recently restored and three are under design (for restoration.)” Read more here.

Ocean Heat Around Florida Is ‘Unprecedented,’ and Scientists Are Warning of Major Impacts

A sudden marine heat wave off the coast of Florida has surprised scientists and sent water temperatures soaring to unprecedented highs, threatening one of the most severe coral bleaching events the state has ever seen.Sea surface temperatures around Florida have reached the highest levels on record since satellites began collecting ocean data. And the warming is happening much earlier than normal – yet another example of ocean heat being amplified by the human-caused climate crisis and the extreme weather it brings. “We didn’t expect this heating to happen so early in the year and to be so extreme,” Derek Manzello, a coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch, told CNN. “This appears to be unprecedented in our records.” Read more here.

NOAA Holds On-Demand Gear Trials in Massachusetts, Maine May Join

Twelve boats participated, completing 527 hauls in two restricted areas, with no reports of gear conflicts or lost gear. An additional 180 hauls using on-demand gear outside of the restricted area had one gear conflict with a fishing vessel and one incident of a gear malfunction reported. On-demand gear removes the vertical fishing lines that place whales including the federally endangered north Atlantic right whale at risk for entanglements leading to injuries and death. NOAA’s permit expires Aug. 21. A new permit that would run through Aug. 20, 2024, has been applied for. NOAA is also requesting to trial on-demand gillnet gear on federally permitted monkfish, ground fish, spiny dogfish and skate vessels from Maine to Virginia. Read more here.

$12 Million in NJ Fines Not Stopping North Wildwood from Beach Work

Not even $12 million worth of fines is enough to stop a Jersey Shore town from bulldozing sand on its beach to bolster eroded spots in defiance of state environmental officials.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection says North Wildwood once again carried out unauthorized repairs to its eroding dunes, most recently on June 5 without state approval and in violation of a February court order imposed by a judge trying to sort out the decade-long sand storm between the two parties. Read more here.

[NEW] NOAA Offering On-Location Coastal Flood Mapping Training

Learn technical skills to address the nation’s increase in damaging and costly coastal flood events by hosting NOAA’s Coastal Inundation Mapping course at your location. This two-day GIS-based training equips you with baseline skills for mapping coastal flooding. Earn 16 hours of continuing education credits while engaging in hands-on exercises to gain practical experience. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how to map and determine impacts of sea level rise and coastal flooding.

Calm Waters Group Seeking Survey Responses on Stakeholder Management

Calm Waters Group is currently building OurTownHall – a stakeholder management platform for underserved communities. This project will help agencies scale up their reach, accuracy, and efficiency of community engagement and accelerate community participation in planning and infrastructure projects. Responses will help to better understand the challenges faced in conducting stakeholder management. Responses will be anonymous and solely used for the purposes of this project and only shared with the internal project team. Aggregate responses may be shared to support future development of the project. Government survey; Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) survey

Report on Nature Based Solutions and Coastal Adaptation Released

The University of Arizona's Center for Climate Adaptation Science and Solutions, in collaboration with the Aspen Global Change Institute, has just published a report titled Understanding the Effectiveness of Coastal Nature-based Solutions: Practitioner-based Learning. This assessment involved interviewing more than 60 coastal adaptation practitioners from the US and Pacific Islands to document their experience in implementing nature-based solutions to protect coastal areas against sea level rise and coastal storms.

Free Translation of Climate Science Information and Research Documents Available

Climate Cardinals is an international youth-led nonprofit that has grown to 9,000 volunteers in 40+ countries & translated 750,000 words of climate information into 100+ languages. They are open to any translation requests from organizations producing verifiable and scientifically-valid climate information and research. They are interested in documents shorter than 25 pages. Our past partners include the UNEP, Yale, Italian Government, and UNICEF. The have capacity for translation in ALL languages, but only have the capacity for translation and review in the following languages: English, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, Croatian, Bosnian, and Polish. For questions about this project, please reach out to their general email: [email protected], with an email directed to Hikaru Hayakawa, Partnerships Director, or Andrew Gao, AI Director. Submit documents here.

Justice40 Accelerator Applications Open for Community-Based Organizations

The Justice40 Accelerator will support community-based and community-led groups/organizations working at the frontlines of environmental crises and advancing community-driven climate solutions. Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status, fiscally sponsored projects, and cooperatives based in the U.S., including sovereign lands located within the U.S. and its territories, are eligible to apply. The application closes on Monday July 31, 2023. Learn more here.

EPA Announces New Funding for Underserved Communities

EPA announced the availability of $30 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for restoration projects that advance environmental justice in underserved and overburdened communities across the Great Lakes. EPA has published a request for applications for the newly created Great Lakes Environmental Justice Grant Program that will fund implementation of environmental protection and restoration projects that will further the goals of GLRI in communities with environmental justice concerns. Applications are being accepted through Friday August 11, 2023.

Ocean Acidification Mini-Grant Opportunity

NOAA's Ocean Acidification Program has announced a FY24 Education mini-grant opportunity to provide assistance for the development of ocean and coast educational tools in underserved and/or Indigenous communities. Letters of intent are due by Friday, September 15, 2023.

Request for Proposals on Including Indigenous Ways of Knowing in Decision-Making for Ocean and Coastal Management

The Lenfest Ocean Program released an RFP for projects that elevate Indigenous Peoples in sharing their traditions, culture, knowledge, and wisdom to improve evidence-based decision-making for the management, conservation, and restoration of coastal marine species, habitats, and ecosystems. The RFP is intended to support identification, analysis, and/or communication of Indigenous Knowledge and wisdom (where it is culturally appropriate); and engagement approaches that facilitate the inclusion of this knowledge into ocean and coastal management decisions. The deadline to apply is Monday, October 16, 2023.