Discussion leaders: Greg Knight and Claire Buchanan

Notes by Jason Allard

Issues that are important to the coastal region:

• The MARA team needs to be careful not to focus exclusively on Chesapeake Bay.
• Acknowledge distinction between ocean versus bay coasts.
• Development in high-risk areas is an important issue.
• Building in vulnerable areas conflicts with natural processes, but people like to live in coastal areas.
• Sea level rise is an issue, but it is more important in conjunction with development (issue of subsidies arose).

Information product issues:

• The research results need to be given in a "factual" manner, but present uncertainties too.
• Need to correct, and prevent, misunderstandings.
• Information products must communicate a clear understanding of options.
• People need to know how to respond to the information that we have now (i.e., case studies with policy options and information on legal dimensions).
• Address different time frames. E.g., regulations may change if one is looking at years, decades, or centuries.
• Develop "no regret" coastal strategies. E.g., to reduce storm damage (e.g., a marketing scheme could be developed to buy out particularly vulnerable areas, or reconsider appropriations of existing subsidies, or could restrict development to areas above the 100 year flood level).
• Need to know more about constituents and policy makers so information products can be tailored for them.
• There is a basic problem of getting tools to local communities (e.g., hardware, knowledge to access and use the information provided).
• Once communities have the basic infrastructure, agencies could provide information more easily.
• Extension services that provide hardware, software, and training could facilitate the dissemination of information.
• Money needs to be available for the future dissemination of information.

Issues for Inland Bays:

• Wetland migration.
• Dredging (e.g., sediment in water column, increasing sedimentation rates, turbidity).
• Sources of sediment can vary, and might not change much.
• It is important to have a coastal engineer involved.
• "No regret" strategies also could be developed for inland bays.
• Set priorities concerning what information, and to whom the information, will be sent.
• Providing hardware, software, and training to inland bay communities will facilitate their communication about coping strategies.

The diverse audience for information about coastal issues:

• Local governments (a high priority)
• Coastal population
• Schools
• Land planners
• Audiences away from the coast that will experience coastal impacts
• Industry and insurance agencies that could have a lot of influence on coastal areas

Other pertinent issues:

• It is difficult to get climate change issues on local government agendas.
• It is important to at least get the language of climate change into current, and ongoing, planning issues at some government level.
• Need better mechanisms for communicating about grants that governments can get (e.g., NOAA has grants available, sea grant outreach programs, etc.).
• Current knowledge and uncertainties must be factually presented.