Who We Are

The Maine Coastal Observing Alliance (MCOA) was formed in 2014 as a consortium of local citizen groups: Damariscotta River Association (DRA), Georges River Tidewater Association (GRTA), Kennebec Estuary Land Trust (KELT), Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association (SVCA), Medomak Valley Land Trust (MVLT), Friends of Casco Bay (FOCB) and Rockport Conservation Commission (RCC). Since that time MCOA has grown to incorporate new partners.

MCOA Partnering Organizations, 2025:

Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition

Boothbay Region Land Trust

Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust

Friends of Casco Bay

Friends of the Weskeag

Georges River Land Trust

Kennebec Estuary Land Trust

Midcoast Conservancy

Rockport Conservation Committee

MCOA Water Quality Technician, Program Manager and Scientific Advisory Board Member

Celeste Mosher – cvmosher@gmail.com

 MCOA Technical Support Team:

Angela Brewer, Section Leader, Marine Unit Bureau of Land and Water Quality, Maine Department of Environmental Protection

Celeste Mosher, MCOA Water Quality Technician

Jeremy Miller, Research Associate, Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve

Dr. Janelle Goeke, Staff Scientist, Casco Bay Estuary Partnership

Dr. Larry Mayer, Professor of Oceanography, University of Maine Darling Marine Center

Dr. Jeffery Runge, Co-Chair, NERACOOS Ocean and Coastal Ecosystem Health Committee

Kathleen Thorton, Research Specialist, University of Maine Darling Marine Center

Dr. Margaret Estapa, Professor of Oceanography, University of Maine Darling Marine Center 

Core Focus Areas:

  • Serve as a forum for sharing emerging issues, trends, information and data exchange
  • Encourage and facilitate coordination and communication among MCOA members and regional partners
  • Provide guidance, tools and resources among MCOA partners and to entities wishing to develop monitoring programs along the Maine coast
  • Encourage participation of organizations with existing or planned monitoring activities
  • Identify and increase regional funding opportunities
  • Identify, discuss and share sampling methodologies in an effort to develop meaningful, sound and comparable data the length of Maine’s coast
  • Develop an accessible, regional database that provides reliable data for policy recommendations and action.
  • Establishing a common set of core sampling indicators/parameters

Where And WhenHow We Monitor

Use and calibration of equipment and quality control measures for gathering accurate data will be covered in an upcoming workshop, open to the public, that is being offered ...

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