Virtual State of the Coast Conference

Leigh Torres will be the keynote speaker for the conference. (No photo credit.)

The State of the Coast Conference is an annual tradition, but like just about everything else in our world of late, it will look different this year. The entire conference has been moved online.  The good news is that the conference is free this year, and open to everyone.

Save the dates, Nov. 5-6.  No schedule is available as yet, but the preliminary announcement indicates that activities will take place during the mornings of both days.

Despite the novel online environment, the conference will include the same elements: the keynote, snapshots, student presenters, and breakout sessions.  Student researchers and artists are invited to submit their work to present at the conference.  Submission deadline is Oct. 12.  Pass the information along to any interested students.

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Leigh Torres, a marine ecologist at Oregon State University. Her talk will be on "Illuminating the many shades of gray whale life in Oregon waters."

Conference topics include Oregon renewable marine energy; Oregon Shore Explorer; bottom trawl gear that reduces contact; the Newport Hydrographic Line; Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission; hybrid beachgrass; creating and installing art in the new Marine Studies Building; COVID-19 in marine mammals; emerging contaminants; Benthic habitat and fisheries recovery processes; Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia; COVID-19 and the coast; student researchers and artists; and more.

The conference will be free, but you will need to register.  To learn more, and to register once that opens in the next few weeks, visit the conference website, https://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/state-coast.