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, 2019:
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
In addition, Hurricane Island Foundation and Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition have started working with MCOA.
MCOA Technical Support Team:
Dr. Damian Brady, Assistant Research Professor, School of Marine Resources, Darling Marine Center; Assistant Director of Research, Maine Sea Grant
Angela Brewer, Section Leader, Marine Unit Bureau of Land and Water Quality, Maine Department of Environmental Protection
Carter Newell, Co-Owner, Pemaquid Oyster Company
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
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
keywords: MCOA ; Maine Coastal Observing Alliance
