From: Inquire and Mirror
By Joshua Balling
I&M Assistant Editor
In recent years, environmentalists, marine scientists and government officials concerned about the oceans have focused most of their attention well offshore, as issues like alternative energy, diminishing fishing stocks and global warming miles from land have become hot topics.
Next Thursday, however, the focus will shift to an area much closer to shore, as the second annual Coastal Communities Conference kicks off at the Nantucket Yacht Club. While last year’s conference focused on erosion, this year’s will address the unique challenges in planning for those areas where the land meets the sea, said Melissa Philbrick, executive director of ReMain Nantucket, which is co-hosting the event with the Egan Maritime Institute.
“The conference is a way to think about the challenges of living on the waterfront. The idea of the land-sea interface doesn’t get talked about a lot. Others talk about the deep ocean, or what happens onshore. The interaction between the ocean and the shore is what this conference is all about,” she said.
The conference will open with a preview of “Ocean Frontiers,” a documentary set to premier in the coming weeks that examines coastal and marine spatial-planning efforts in places like the Florida Keys and Gulf of Mexico, Philbrick said.
“The gist of coastal marine spatial planning is that it’s about ecosystem-based decision-making. The idea is to create layers of maps for where things are happening: shipping lanes, recreational fishing, ferry lanes, where the wind resources are, where the endangered species are located,” she said.