The story
In the mid-1960s estuarine scientists around the globe were beginning to recognize that wide dissemination of information concerning estuarine water circulation patterns, rates of exchange of materials within coastal and marine waters and the ecology of estuarine organisms was essential to the realistic management of estuaries in the future. This wide recognition of the intertwined interest between knowledge of estuarine systems and eutrophication characterizes the task oriented nature of the study of estuaries.
In the Fall of 1969, a special committee was assembled to explore the formation of a new society not dedicated to any particular geographic region in order to accommodate a larger domestic and international membership. The new group known as the Estuarine Research Federation (ERF) was created.
In an effort to identify the true scope of ERF interests to ALL people who may be interested in participating in the Federation's activities, ERF members voted by mail, in the summer of 2007, to approve a name change to Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF).
From Wikipedia’s article on Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4