Credit: Jamaica Bay Rockaway Parks Conservancy.

New York, NY, July 15, 2019 - On the 12th annual City of Water Day in mid-July, dozens of communities at New York and New Jersey waterfronts hosted satellite celebrations big and small, making this a true harbor-wide event that celebrated the region’s 1,600 miles of coastline. 

This free harbor-wide day to get people to, on, and in the water was made possible by Waterfront Alliance and its partners, the South Street Seaport Museum and New York-New Jersey Harbor & Estuary Program.

More than 50 "In Your Neighborhood" sites with nearly 100 participating organizations drew tens of thousands of citizens to the shoreline.

In Brooklyn, as part of both City of of Water Day and the Jamaica Bay Festival, the Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy partnered with the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay (SRIatJB), New York Sea Grant (NYSG) and Billion Oyster Project (BOP) to give tours of the City of New York (CUNY) I Research Vessel (CUNY1) at Riis Landing.

SRIJB provided dockside tours of the R/V CUNY 1, a 65-foot hybrid propulsion aluminum catamaran that is the latest technology in maritime and boating. 

The vessel uses both diesel and electric power and it is 'zero discharge' compliant, meaning that it doesn't produce any cooling or gray/black water discharge that can be detrimental to marine ecosystems. It is also equipped to do research and available for education and public outreach. 

In addition to the BOP, CUNY Kingsborough Community College (KBCC) came aboard with SRIJB for the tours. With the R/V CUNY I's outdoor water table, BOP showed oysters, grown in NYC, as well as shared outreach materials and available programming; KBCC shared biofacts about horseshoe crabs and other local wildlife. 

Below are some photos taken by Helen Cheng, New York Sea Grant’s Coastal Resilience Specialist with SRIJB. 

For more on the research vessel, visit www.srijb.org/r-v-cuny-i. You can also learn more about the partners on Twitter at, respectively, @SRIatJB, @billionoyster, @CUNY and @CUNYkcc.

And check out the Waterfront Alliance's Website or #CityOfWaterDay on Twitter for more experiences from the day.

In Photos: Aboard R/V CUNY1 for July's Jamaica Bay Festival and City of Water Day 
(Credit: Helen Cheng / NYSG)







Also, in early May the Waterfront Alliance held its annual conference aboard the Hornblower Infinity, dockside at Pier 40 in Hudson River Park, Manhattan. Hundreds of experts in science, technology, arts, engineering, and more came together to explore pressing resilience and waterfront matters. For more on the conference, which was themed "Rising Seas, Rising Risks: Adapting Our Region," check out the Waterfront Alliance's Web site or #WaterfrontConference on Twitter.


Now in its fourth year, the Waterfront Scholars program is an integral part of the annual Waterfront Conference, bringing together a diverse group of undergraduate and graduate students for a day of learning and networking on our waterfront. This year’s program is generously sponsored by The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. Credit: Ian Douglas / Waterfront Alliance.

New York Sea Grant and Resilience Education


Planning is key to remaining safe from approaching severe storms. (Inset) Study participant Vincent Contino takes a coastal storm awareness survey on an iPad at the Cross Fit King of Island Park on April 29, 2015. Credit: FEMA / (Inset) E. Christa Farmer.

The Waterfront Alliance is a coalition of some 950+ organizations — which includes New York Sea Grant — that work together to bring about real change to our region’s 700 miles of shoreline.

Below are some of Sea Grant's recent efforts in and around New York City ...

RISE 2019: NYSG Climate and Resiliency Extension, Outreach and Education (November 2019)

New York Sea Grant To Co-Host Fourth Seafood Summit in New York City (November 2019)

NOAA Sea Grant's Coastal Storm Awareness Program Findings Welcomed by National Weather Service (September 2019)

Students Present Resiliency Guidelines at Final Resilient Schools Consortium Summit (October 2019)

In Photos: Resilience Professionals and Citizens Help Build Community Resilience at Flood Forum (June 2019)

On YouTube: Debate ensues into how to best protect NY-NJ Harbor from future disaster (March 2019)

Hurricanes: Forecasting, Communication, Response & Preparedness (March 2019)

On YouTube, On Air: Coastal Residents Wary of Storms and Preparing (March 2019)

Coastal Resilience Forums Provide Information for Town of Babylon ... and Beyond (April 2019)

In Media: Living shorelines offer hope for state’s coastal communities (February 2019)

Raising Awareness on Nature-Based Shorelines (January 2019)

On YouTube: Jamaica Bay Community Flood Watch Project (January 2019)

On YouTube: Kathleen Fallon Shares Hurricane Information with Long Islanders (November 2018)

On YouTube: A Forecasting Fulcrum: Insights From Dr. Louis W. Uccellini on the 1938 Hurricane (November 2018)

In Media, On YouTube: Hurricane of '38 (November 2018)

On YouTube: Destructive 2018 Atlantic Hurricane Season Draws to an End (November 2018)

On YouTube: Coastal Storm Warnings and Your Tipping Point (October 2018)

Should I Stay or Should I Go? (September 2018)

Before a Severe Storm Hits, Learning to Communicate about the Risks (August 2018)

More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 33 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University in Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly. Our program also produces an occasional e-newsletter,"NOAA Sea Grant's Social Media Review," via its blog, www.nyseagrant.org/blog.