Photo above: North Carolina’s Coastal Conference drew a variety of participants, from students to leaders in coastal industry and members of state agencies.

North Carolina’s Coastal Conference, hosted by North Carolina Sea Grant, drew a wide variety of participants to discuss the topics most important to the North Carolina coast. For two days — at the McKimmon Center and the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences — researchers, students, policymakers, business owners and others gathered to learn and share ideas. Speakers talked about weather, storms and climate; community and ecosystem health; fisheries and aquaculture; and planning and economies.

Sea Grant is working on developing a request for research proposals based on this conference. Continue to check the conference website for new materials, including presentation slides, which are being added.

Below, we share images from the event.

North Carolina’s Coastal Conference, held April 4 and 5 in Raleigh, provided an opportunity for those interested in the state’s coastal issues to meet for discussions.

The event offered perspectives from a wide range of speakers and panel members from local communities to the national level.

At the end of the first day, Sea Grant hosted an evening event at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences.

Rep. Pat McElraft, Sen. Bill Cook, Bland Simpson and Emlyn Koster spoke during the evening program at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences.

The museum provided a backdrop for additional conversations for conference participants.

Museum exhibits, tool demonstrations and ongoing conversations engaged those who attended the evening event.

In addition, Sea Grant is currently requesting feedback from conference participants to help us improve our future meetings. If you attended the meeting and did not receive an email about our survey, please contact Jack Thigpen, Sea Grant extension director, at jack_thigpen@ncsu.edu.