By Ernie Smith
It’s not obvious at first glance, but at 3,315 miles, Virginia has a shoreline nearly the size of California’s. It’s just a few miles off of Texas. It even tops Michigan, which is a state of peninsulas. All those nooks and crannies add up!
We know this thanks to ongoing surveying and research work that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has managed and conducted for decades. More broadly, NOAA’s efforts have helped us better utilize two of our most important resources: the oceans and the atmosphere.
In recent months, NOAA has found itself in the crosshairs of a broader effort to cut federal funding, with staffing changes alone creating mass confusion. Beyond its work with the National Weather Service, NOAA’s work isn’t generally very front-facing. But it’s still vital to Hampton Roads in a way that goes beyond hurricanes.
Photos Courtesy of EMC
The agency’s local presence takes multiple forms: For example, the Marine Operations Center—Atlantic (MOC-A) maintains numerous surveying ships, most notably the Thomas Jefferson, which can scan detailed imagery of the sea floor. (“The 208-ft. ship is one of NOAA’s most valuable assets following a severe weather event or ocean emergency,” the agency claims on its website.)
Meanwhile, NOAA’s fisheries arm supports a regional office at Gloucester Point.
Ryan Green, the program manager of the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program (VCZMP), sees how this plays out up close. He may not be an NOAA employee, technically under the purview of the state’s Department of Environmental Quality, but his program wouldn’t exist without funding from the Coastal Zone Management Act, a 1972 federal law that NOAA administers across nearly every coastal state.
“What that act essentially does is lay out federal support, federal strategy, and then provides funding to coastal zone programs,” Green said. “And that is through NOAA, our longtime partner in this work.”
Reviving A Forgotten Wetland
Much of NOAA’s work is through direct funding at state and local levels. For example, MOC-A (Marine Operations Center) is located in downtown Norfolk, an area that has seen significant flooding over the years. Recently, the city of Norfolk received $10 million in grant funding to support the creation of a wetland area to both support local habitats and provide floodwater management as part of the broader St. Paul’s Transformation Project. The wetland area, Newton’s Creek, effectively revives a natural wetland and tidal creek which was filled in for development in the 1950s.
But NOAA’s scope expands well beyond the coast. This year, for instance, the MOCA-A office expects to conduct surveys of multiple nearby bodies of water, including Mobjack Bay, Pocomoke Sound, and the navigational waterways that lead to the Chesapeake Bay. (In the latter case, it’s one of the first attempts to analyze that section of the ocean floor in about a century. These surveys may not seem obvious from an economic impact standpoint. But they’re essential to supporting business interests in shipping, commerce, and tourism.
Economic Growth Via Oyster Castles
NOAA’s work often provides a seed to later growth that can be seen in fields such as oyster aquaculture. Last year, according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, more than 110,000 oysters were grown with the oyster castle technique—the result of investments made long ago by NOAA, VCZMP, and other agencies.
Stakeholders helped uncover innovative methods to grow oyster beds, ultimately deciding on three-dimensional “oyster castles,” a man-made method that works in natural habitats. These efforts have created fresh interest in the state’s oyster industry, which has helped attract tourism dollars.
Photos Courtesy of EMC. Blowing shell off boat in Lynnhaven 2019 - VMRC
“The kind of scene that has come up around oysters, and the restaurants that serve them, was not always here in Virginia,” Green said.
Estuarine Impact
The Chesapeake Bay is the nation’s largest estuary and is vital to the environmental and economic health of the region. Protecting 3,072 acres, the Chesapeake Bay-Virginia National Estuarine Research Reserve contains a diverse collection of habitats and NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management is a funding and management partner. On-the-ground management is provided by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the College of William and Mary. The site is protected for long-term research, water-quality monitoring, and education.
The Marine Economy
Our regional marine economy is made up of businesses whose existence depends upon the ocean, the Chesapeake Bay and adjacent waterways. Six sectors make up the marine economy: marine construction, offshore mineral resources, tourism and recreation, living resources, ship and boat building, and marine transportation. The economic data provided in NOAA’s Marine Economy Reports and other products help leaders understand ongoing trends, taking into account the needs of businesses when making decisions about the coast.
Consistent, Flexible Funding is Key
While NOAA manages plenty of its own programs, much of its funding ends up in local hands via funding allocations.
In 2023, for example, the Biden Administration allocated $17.3 million across six separate projects, including one supporting the Mattaponi Indian Tribe and two others focused on marine debris cleanup. Those allocations were part of a larger investment program, which saw the agency produce $1.4 billion in estimated economic output from $717 million in investments over a two-year period.
VCZMP, which receives around $3.5 million annually from NOAA, allocates funds to local communities in ways where NOAA’s impact may not seem obvious. While not the largest funding source, it has made the most of it through resourcefulness, according to Green.
“There were a lot of other funders that worked in this space, but one of the critical things about our funding is it is consistent,” he said. “It is consistent, year by year. And it is, again, very flexible.”
Green, who coordinates and supports the funding across state and local agencies, says that NOAA is both a resourceful and flexible partner, offering ideas but not dictating strategy.
“We’re able to consistently allocate that funding where we want it,” he added.
