It's also why Cape Cod is what Cape Cod is ; it's all because of this cycling of nutrients and the plankton and this very special convergence of currents, tides, wind, geology ...
— Anne-Marie Runfola, Executive Director, Center for Coastal Studies
50 Years of Coastal Research
The Center for Coastal Studies turns 50 and reflects on all we've learned since 1976
Click on the video to watch the short news feature
10 June 2026 – PROVINCETOWN, MA – As the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) kicks off its 50th anniversary year, it reflects on how much our knowledge of whale dynamics and the Cape Cod cod coastal ecosystem has grown.
How did Center for Coastal Studies start its anniversary year?
Whipping winds and rain didn’t keep hearty Cape Codders away from the May 30 open house at Provincetown’s CCS. The event kicks off a year of celebration of the research organization’s 50th anniversary.
Who started the Center for Coastal Studies?
It began with three scientists with questions about Cape Cod Bay and has grown into a research center deeply rooted in field studies with 55 staff, 16 programs, and hundreds of affiliated partners and volunteers. Its long-term highly detailed database has changed understanding of humpback and right whales and its work with marine debris, coastal erosion and water quality make it a key link in Cape Cod’s marine research corridor.
Why is Cape Cod Bay a good place to study?
Executive Director Anne-Marie Runf0la says Cape Cod holds a unique place in the world’s whale population. “Those whales are coming from Florida and Georgia and sometimes the Gulf of Mexico with their newborn calves to eat that plankton,” she said.
“It’s all because of this cycling of the nutrients and the plankton that’s coming in; and this very special convergence of currents, tides, wind, geology that’s bringing animals and humans from all across thew world to recreate, work, live and eat here.”
How was whale knowledge different in 1976?
In 1976 humans had limited understanding of this marine ecosystem, from the tiny plankton to the giant whales. In the past 50 years, CCS has trained people in more than 40 countries how to disentangle whales and developed a set of whale-sized tools for the process. Policy makers and scientists around the world drawn on its database and its monitoring work to understand whale behavior, minimize boat-whale strikes, and help better co-existance between whales and human commercial activity.
“We do science that matters, science that matters to the community. Everything we do is applied and we really want to make sure that it has positive impact both on the environment and also on the humans and beyond human beings that are part of it,” she said.
“We’ve learned a lot of the last 50 years and there’s so much more to come.”
For more information:
Center for Coastal Studies website
