GALLOWAY – The executive director of the state Division of Travel and Tourism helped mark a celebration of 25 years of New Jersey coastal studies by Richard Stockton College Wednesday, Feb. 15.

Keynote speaker Grace Hanlon told about 120 students and guests in the Campus Center Theater that her job, supported by a quarter century’s work by the Stockton Coastal Research Center, is “bittersweet,”

“I’m thrilled that people are coming to our beaches,” she said at the “25 Years of New Jersey Coastal Studies” symposium Wednesday. “But I want them to preserve them, too.”

Hanlon recounted a memory of her father taking her and her brothers to Sandy Hook to see all of the barges dumping into the ocean. It’s a memory she said she never forgot, and it inspired her to make a public service announcement supporting the Clean Ocean Act.

“I have a pure passion for a clean ocean,” Hanlon said. “I’m proud of our beaches. They’re healthy, attractive, and inviting. It is a unique destination to return year after year.”

She said that without people visiting the beaches she wouldn’t have a job.

Hanlon discussed what would happen if people stopped coming to New Jersey’s beaches.

“If tourism didn’t exist, each household in New Jersey would have to pay $1,500 additionally in taxes,” she said. “I think tourism is importing money and exporting memories.

“We need to make it our goal to keep our beaches clean and inviting for a positive momentum into summer 2012,” Hanlon said. “I’m ready to make it a fabulous summer.”

Stewart Farrell, founder and president of the Coastal Research Center at Stockton, said how impressed he was with the turnout for their day-long meeting.

“It’s great. We knew we had 120 people sign up, and we have had a few additional walk-ons, but I’m happy,” Farrell said.

Farrell said that the Coastal Research Center intends to put up all of the day’s speakers on the Internet.

“They will be linked to our website www.stockton.edu/crc,” he said. “It will be accompanying our 25 years of research. People will be able to look back at the trends with documentation.”

Documentation is what Farrell said triggered the start of the Coastal Research Center, which was originally Coastal Resources Division in Trenton.

Farrell said that when Hurricane Gloria in 1985 caused destruction up the New Jersey coast FEMA stepped in to help repair damages.

“The only thing that they had to show was before and after pictures of the beaches and properties. They had no documentation so FEMA left.”

He said then Sen. Bill Bradley stepped in and acknowledged the mistake and asked for the appropriation to set it straight.

“They came to me to help design the program,” Farrell said. “We are now able to assess, plan, and monitor the changes that occur annually over time.

“We are trying to make huge amounts of data comprehensible to the public,” Farrell said of his goal for the Coastal Research Center.

Farrell seemed eager to take on the next 25 years of coastal research.