Reforming state-level coastal management and development policies: strategic retreat as an innovative, proactive and equitable coastal environmental management strategy

Atlantic and Gulf Coast shorelines include some of the most unique and biologically rich ecosystems in the United States that provide immeasurable aesthetic, habitat and economic benefits. Natural coastal ecosystems, however, are under increasing threat from rampant and irresponsible growth and development. Once a boon to local economies, complex natural forces – enhanced by global climate change and sea level rise - are now considered hazards and eroding the very foundation upon which coastal development is based. For nearly a century, beach restoration and erosion control structures have been used to artificially stabilize shorelines in an effort to protect structures and infrastructure. Beach restoration, the import and emplacement of sand on an eroding beach, is expensive, unpredictable, inefficient and may result in long-term environmental impacts. The detrimental environmental impacts of erosion control structures such as sea walls, groins, bulkheads and revetments include sediment deficits, accelerated erosion and beach loss. These and other traditional responses to coastal erosion and storm impacts- along with archaic federal and state policies, subsidies and development incentives - are costly, encourage risky development, artificially increase property values of high-risk or environmentally sensitive properties, reduce the post-storm resilience of shorelines, damage coastal ecosystems and are becoming increasingly unsustainable. Although communities, coastal managers and property owners face increasingly complex and difficult challenges, there is an emerging public, social and political awareness that, without meaningful policy reforms, coastal ecosystems and economies are in jeopardy. Strategic retreat is a sustainable, interdisciplinary management strategy that supports the proactive, planned removal of vulnerable coastal development; reduces risk; increases shoreline resiliency and ensures long term protection of coastal systems. Public policies and management strategies that can overcome common economic misperceptions and promote the removal of vulnerable development will provide state and local policy makers and coastal managers with an effective management tool that concomitantly addresses the economic, environmental, legal and political issues along developed shorelines. (PDF contains 4 pages)

San Francisco Bay regional sediment management strategy development

The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), in continued partnership with the San Francisco Bay Long Term Management Strategies (LTMS) Agencies, is undertaking the development of a Regional Sediment Management Plan for the San Francisco Bay estuary and its watershed (estuary). Regional sediment management (RSM) is the integrated management of littoral, estuarine, and riverine sediments to achieve balanced and sustainable solutions to sediment related needs. Regional sediment management recognizes sediment as a resource. Sediment processes are important components of coastal and riverine systems that are integral to environmental and economic vitality. It relies on the context of the sediment system and forecasting the long-range effects of management actions when making local project decisions. In the San Francisco Bay estuary, the sediment system includes the Sacramento and San Joaquin delta, the bay, its local tributaries and the near shore coastal littoral cell. Sediment flows from the top of the watershed, much like water, to the coast, passing through rivers, marshes, and embayments on its way to the ocean. Like water, sediment is vital to these habitats and their inhabitants, providing nutrients and the building material for the habitat itself. When sediment erodes excessively or is impounded behind structures, the sediment system becomes imbalanced, and rivers become clogged or conversely, shorelines, wetlands and subtidal habitats erode. The sediment system continues to change in response both to natural processes and human activities such as climate change and shoreline development. Human activities that influence the sediment system include flood protection programs, watershed management, navigational dredging, aggregate mining, shoreline development, terrestrial, riverine, wetland, and subtidal habitat restoration, and beach nourishment. As observed by recent scientific analysis, the San Francisco Bay estuary system is changing from one that was sediment rich to one that is erosional. Such changes, in conjunction with increasing sea level rise due to climate change, require that the estuary sediment and sediment transport system be managed as a single unit. To better manage the system, its components, and human uses of the system, additional research and knowledge of the system is needed. Fortunately, new sediment science and modeling tools provide opportunities for a vastly improved understanding of the sediment system, predictive capabilities and analysis of potential individual and cumulative impacts of projects. As science informs management decisions, human activities and management strategies may need to be modified to protect and provide for existing and future infrastructure and ecosystem needs. (PDF contains 3 pages)

Reforming state-level coastal management and development policies: strategic retreat as an innovative, proactive and equitable coastal environmental management strategy

Atlantic and Gulf Coast shorelines include some of the most unique and biologically rich ecosystems in the United States that provide immeasurable aesthetic, habitat and economic benefits. Natural coastal ecosystems, however, are under increasing threat from rampant and irresponsible growth and development. Once a boon to local economies, complex natural forces – enhanced by global climate change and sea level rise - are now considered hazards and eroding the very foundation upon which coastal development is based. For nearly a century, beach restoration and erosion control structures have been used to artificially stabilize shorelines in an effort to protect structures and infrastructure. Beach restoration, the import and emplacement of sand on an eroding beach, is expensive, unpredictable, inefficient and may result in long-term environmental impacts. The detrimental environmental impacts of erosion control structures such as sea walls, groins, bulkheads and revetments include sediment deficits, accelerated erosion and beach loss. These and other traditional responses to coastal erosion and storm impacts- along with archaic federal and state policies, subsidies and development incentives - are costly, encourage risky development, artificially increase property values of high-risk or environmentally sensitive properties, reduce the post-storm resilience of shorelines, damage coastal ecosystems and are becoming increasingly unsustainable. Although communities, coastal managers and property owners face increasingly complex and difficult challenges, there is an emerging public, social and political awareness that, without meaningful policy reforms, coastal ecosystems and economies are in jeopardy. Strategic retreat is a sustainable, interdisciplinary management strategy that supports the proactive, planned removal of vulnerable coastal development; reduces risk; increases shoreline resiliency and ensures long term protection of coastal systems. Public policies and management strategies that can overcome common economic misperceptions and promote the removal of vulnerable development will provide state and local policy makers and coastal managers with an effective management tool that concomitantly addresses the economic, environmental, legal and political issues along developed shorelines. (PDF contains 4 pages)

Statutory protection of freshwater flora and fauna

The aim of this paper is to summarize the present legislation aimed at protecting freshwater species in Britain, and briefly to review its effectiveness. Some areas have been deliberately omitted, such as fisheries legislation designed to conserve stocks, and the statutory protection of birds associated with fresh waters which forms a large subject area in its own right.

The kingdom of the shore: achievement of good ecological potential in reservoirs

The European Water Framework Directive requires member states to restore aquatic habitats to good ecological status (quality) by 2015. Good ecological status is defined as slightly different from high status, which, according to the Directive, means negligible human influence. This poses problems enough for restoration of natural habitats but artificial reservoirs are not excluded from the Directive. They must be restored to good ecological potential. The meaning of good ecological status is linked to that of 'high' ecological status, the pristine reference condition for aquatic habitats under the Directive. From the point of view of an ecologist, this is taken to mean the presence of four fundamental characteristics: nutrient parsimony, characteristic biological and physical structure, connectivity within a wider system and adequate size to give resilience of the biological communities to environmental change. These characteristics are strongly interrelated. Ecological potential must bear some relationship to ecological status but since the reference state for ecological quality is near absence of human impact, it is difficult to see how the criteria for ecological status can be applied to a completely man-made entity where the purpose of the dam is deliberately to interfere with the natural characteristics of a river or former natural lake. Rservoirs are disabled lakes, ususally lakcing the diversity and function provided by a littoral zone. Nonetheless, pragmatic approaches to increasing the biodiversity of reservours are reviewed and conclusions drawn as to the likely effectivemess of the legislation.

Results of the 1998 frame survey: Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe shore

The findings are presented of a survey conducted on Lake Kariba in order to update the basic statistics of the inshore fishery from a previous survey conducted in 1993 and also to collect some socioeconomic data regarding the artisanal fishery. The 1998 frame survey provided information on fishers both for the whole fishery and per village and changes in numbers; socio-economic characteristics as well as the number of fishing units and gear are included.

1989 fisheries statistics, Lake Kariba - Zimbabwe shore

Statistics are presented for the Zimbabwe pelagic and inshore fisheries of Lake Kariba, covering the period 1974-89. Data include total landings, total effort, catch per unit effort, monthly landings and monthly catch per unit effort for both sectors.

1991 fisheries statistics, Lake Kariba - Zimbabwe shore

This statistical report covers catch records from the Zimbabwe part of Lake Kariba for the period 1974-1991. Landings, catches and fishing effort statistics are included for both the kapenta and the inshore artisanal fishing sectors.

1992 fisheries statistics, Lake Kariba - Zimbabwe shore

This statistical report covers catch records from the Zimbabwe part of Lake Kariba for the period 1974-1992. Landings, catches and fishing effort statistics are included for both the pelagic and the inshore artisanal fishing sectors.

1993 fisheries statistics, Lake Kariba - Zimbabwe shore

This statistical report covers catch records from the Zimbabwe part of Lake Kariba for the period 1974-1993. Landings, catches and fishing effort statistics are included for both the kapenta (pelagic) and the inshore artisanal fishing sectors.

1994 fisheries statistics, Lake Kariba - Zimbabwe shore

The report provides catch records for the Kapenta and inshore fisheries in the Zimbabwean waters of Lake Kariba for the year 1994. Kapenta usually constitute about 90% of the total catch from Lake Kariba; for statistical purposes catches are recorded for the 5 hydrological basins - Mlibizi, Binga, Sengwa, Bumi and Kariba. Whereas kapenta represent a unit stock which is harvested by both Zimbabwe and Zambia, the artisanal fishery exploits inshore species which generally occupy water less than 10m deep along the shoreline, considered to be 2 separate stocks. The main species in the inshore fishery are Oreochromis mortimeri, Sargochromis codringtonii, Tilapia rendalli, Labeo altivelis, Hydrocynus vittatus, Mormyrus longirostris, Clarias gariepinus and Synodontis zambezensis.

1995 fisheries statistics, Lake Kariba - Zimbabwe shore

The report provides catch records for the Kapenta and inshore fisheries in the Zimbabwean waters of Lake Kariba for the year 1995. Kapenta usually constitute about 90% of the total catch from Lake Kariba; for statistical purposes catches are recorded for the 5 hydrological basins - Mlibizi, Binga, Sengwa, Bumi and Kariba. Whereas kapenta represent a unit stock which is harvested by both Zimbabwe and Zambia, the artisanal fishery exploits inshore species which generally occupy water less than 10m deep along the shoreline, considered to be 2 separate stocks. The main species in the inshore fishery are Oreochromis mortimeri, Sargochromis codringtonii, Tilapia rendalli, Labeo altivelis, Hydrocynus vittatus, Mormyrus longirostris, Clarias gariepinus and Synodontis zambezensis.

1996 fisheries statistics, Lake Kariba - Zimbabwe shore

The report provides catch records for the Kapenta and inshore fisheries in the Zimbabwean waters of Lake Kariba for the year 1996. Kapenta usually constitute about 90% of the total catch from Lake Kariba; for statistical purposes catches are recorded for the 5 hydrological basins - Mlibizi, Binga, Sengwa, Bumi and Kariba. Whereas kapenta represent a unit stock which is harvested by both Zimbabwe and Zambia, the artisanal fishery exploits inshore species which generally occupy water less than 10m deep along the shoreline, considered to be 2 separate stocks. The main species in the inshore fishery are Oreochromis mortimeri, Sargochromis codringtonii, Tilapia rendalli, Labeo altivelis, Hydrocynus vittatus, Mormyrus longirostris, Clarias gariepinus and Synodontis zambezensis.

1997 fisheries statistics, Lake Kariba - Zimbabwe shore

The report provides catch records for the kapenta (Limnothrissa miodon) and inshore fisheries in the Zimbabwean waters of Lake Kariba for the year 1997. Kapenta usually constitute about 94% of the total catch from Lake Kariba; for statistical purposes catches are recorded for the 5 hydrological basins - Mlibizi, Binga, Sengwa, Bumi and Kariba. The kapenta, which occupy the open pelagic waters of the lake, represent a unit stock which is harvested by both Zimbabwe and Zambia; the artisanal fishery exploits inshore species which generally occupy water less than 10m deep along the shoreline. The Zambian and Zimbabwean inshore fisheries may therefore be considered to be exploiting 2 separate stocks. The main species in the inshore fishery are Oreochromis mortimeri, Sargochromis codringtonii, Tilapia rendalli, Labeo altivelis, Hydrocynus vittatus, Mormyrus longirostris, M.anguilloides and Clarias gariepinus.