News release: Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Conference Focuses on Resilience

For immediate release
Contact: Shelly McComb, shelly.mccomb@whoi.edu

Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Conference Scheduled for Oct. 1; Will Focus on Resilience

[Sept. 19, 2024] -- Martha’s Vineyard is on the frontline of coastal change, seeing ever accelerating changes island-wide. In the coming decades, sea level rise will impact roads, buildings and property as well as the island’s critical infrastructure – facilities the community relies on for its safety, livelihoods and economic viability. What is the island community doing to address adapting to and mitigating the impacts of coastal change?

On Tuesday, October 1, from 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. WHOI Sea Grant is partnering with the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head Aquinnah, the Trustees and others to hold the Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Conference. This year’s theme is  Building Coastal Resilience.  The meeting will highlight resilience projects on the Vineyard and in the region. Experts will also delve into understanding flood risk and the economic impacts of coastal change. The conference is geared towards coastal managers, environmental organizations, town staff, researchers, and consultants, but is free and open to all.

“Islands are especially vulnerable to the impacts of severe storms, erosion and sea level rise – all impacts of climate change,” said Shelly McComb, a coastal resilience specialist with WHOI Sea Grant and its extension partner, Cape Cod Cooperative Extension. “This conference is a critical connector, enabling communities to collaborate to meet these challenges together through information sharing, networking and the development of shared solutions.”

This year’s conference keynote will be delivered by Deanna Moran, chief coastal resilience officer for the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management. Appointed in May 2024 by Gov. Maura Healy, Moran is charged with leading the state’s new ResilientCoasts initiative, a holistic and proactive strategy to guide state and local coastal resiliency policy and action.

The Coastal Conference is an annual meeting that alternates between Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.  This year’s day-long conference will be held at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center in Vineyard Haven. The conference agenda with session presenters as well as a link to registration can be found on the WHOI Sea Grant website at https://seagrant.whoi.edu.

About WHOI Sea Grant

Based at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the WHOI Sea Grant program encourages environmental stewardship, long-term economic development, and responsible use of the nation’s coastal and ocean resources. The program supports research and education, and an extension program in collaboration with the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension. It is part of the NOAA-funded National Sea Grant College Program, a network of 34 individual programs located in each of the coastal and Great Lakes states. More information can be found at seagrant.whoi.edu.