The latest Delaware Estuary Science and Environmental Summit is getting underway.
The 2019 edition of the four-day summit is in Cape May, New Jersey.
"The Delaware Estuary Science and Environmental Summit began in 2005. And it is a biennial conference that we coordinate to bring people from across the basin and even beyond, together, to facilitate dialogue to seek solutions to challenges in the Delaware River and Bay,” said the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary’s director of donor engagement Kathy Klein
Klein says the Summit brings together scientists, environmental educators, managers and the general public to share things what they’re working on.
“The theme for this year’s Summit is “Saving Our System Through Collaboration,” said Klein. "And I think that the Environmental Summit really provides an opportunity for fostering collaboration that has been ongoing since the beginning of the first Summit in 2005.
Klein says new projects and new partnerships have been developed at the Summit over the years.
Sea level rise, climate change, horseshoe crabs and the red-knot connection in the Delaware Bay are among the topics scheduled to be discussed.
After the Summit is over, Klein says you can log on to Delaware Estuary to view clips from presentations made during the Summit.
Klein says the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary has arranged nearly 100 presentations for the event and 341 people are registered to attend.
Klein says one other topic on the agenda is the large 2004 oil spill on the Delaware River. That spill saw 30,000 gallons of crude oil leak from a ship and leave a 24-mile-long slick.
She says scientists will discuss what was learned from that spill and if the region is better prepared now - 20 years later - for another major spill - should it happen.
