In This Issue:

• FEATURE: Seeking Sea Change in Ocean Literacy
• Shaping the State of New Jersey Marine Affairs
• Grassroots Organization Plants Seeds of Progress in Urban New Jersey
• The Knauss Fellowship Experience
• Coastal Vignettes

Shaping the State of New Jersey Marine Affairs

by Kim Kosko

       Once upon a time, pre-1969 to be precise, young Jacques Cousteau wanna-bes who lived in New Jersey had no recourse but to go out-of-state to earn an advanced or even basic college degree in marine science, oceanography or fisheries biology. While some State and private colleges offered individual marine science classes, there was no single central location that offered a comprehensive program in marine science or a recognized facility that afforded students and scientists an opportunity to conduct in-depth marine science research.
       In early 1969, a group of nine professors representing five New Jersey colleges decided to fill that need by forming a cooperative center for the study of marine biology. Officially incorporated as the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium (NJMSC) on February 26th, 1969, the organization’s original nine “founding fathers” were Albert Eble, Thomas Henry, A. Lee Meyerson, Roger Raimist, Robert Ramsdell, Robert Renlund, William Taylor, Joseph Waring and Donald Zalusky. The founding member institutions represented by the group were Cumberland County College, Glassboro State College (now Rowan University), Montclair State College (now Montclair State University), Newark State College (now Kean University) and Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey). To the best of anyone’s knowledge, it was and still is the only consortium of its kind in the country founded by individuals rather than a group of institutions. The group’s first field station was located at an old World War II Coast Guard Station on Cape May Point, which was turned over to the group shortly after its incorporation. That location marked the beginning of an ongoing relationship between NJMSC and a successive series of military and government agency benefactors and landlords that still exists today.
       The basic goal was for NJMSC circa 1969 was to serve as a conduit for marine science education and research in New Jersey and lay a solid foundation for integrated and interdisciplinary marine and coastal research, education and outreach activities throughout the State. The earliest NJMSC mission according to the Certificate of Incorporation was straightforward and threefold:

1. To provide for the operation of field stations for education and research in the marine environment of New Jersey and its contiguous areas, and encourage investigations in all science disciplines;
2. To offer courses in the marine sciences, provide research facilities in the marine sciences and provide facilities to visiting scientists and;
3. To aid and encourage scholarly activities in the marine sciences by offering courses and providing facilities for pure and applied research, and through meetings, seminars and other activities to encourage dialogue among those interested in the marine sciences.

       Most New Jersey colleges and universities now offer a full range of marine science programs and degrees; some even have on-campus institutes dedicated to those academic disciplines. Yet four decades later, the essential mission and goals of the organization are still relevant and essentially the same as they were in 1969. Today, it is described as “an affiliation of colleges, universities and other groups dedicated to advancing knowledge and stewardship of New Jersey’s marine and coastal environment” that “meets its mission through its innovative research, education and outreach programs.”