Coastal Ecosystem Response Paper

Coastal Management in Hastings is effective economically, socially, environmentally and is sustainable for the future.

2)On the IPad, on the adobe reader app open the document called ‘Beach sediment classification card’

* The group is mostly focused on maintaining the vegetation of the various lagoons in the Terrigal area. As a result, most of their actions relate to the maintenance of the lagoons. The kind of things they do include:

The aim of this report is to investigate Long Reef and Collaroy Beach’s coastal management.

The coastal management strategies are not very effective as gathered from the surveys. On average, the participating surveyees gave the strategies a 4 out of a possible 5. This data were gathered from visitors/neighbourhoods who visit on average frequently. The main concern that would need conventional changes are council clean ups for rubbish track paths, washrooms and toilets, increase and improvement in stores and clubs as well as the immediate removal of pet litter.

The erosion of shorelines is a natural process that can have beneficial or adverse impacts on the creation and maintenance of habitats. Sands and gravels eroded from the shores of coastal bays maintain the beach as a natural barrier between the open water and coastal wetlands. Beaches move back and forth onshore, offshore and along shore with changing wave conditions. The finer-grained silts and clays derived from the erosion of shorelines are sorted and carried as far as the waters of wetlands or tidal flats, where benefits are derived from addition of the new material. However, excessively high sediment loads can smother submerged aquatic vegetation beds, cover shellfish beds and tidal flats, fill in riffle

Scientists and researchers began giving a large volume of effort and look into the extremely complex problems that face the Chesapeake Bay. When research for the improving and saving of the Bay’s overall health began it seemed very simple and there were only a couple of problems. The problems included nutrients from agricultural runoff; these nutrients were phosphorus and nitrogen. The combination of the nutrients in the Bay caused a large volume of algae that choked some of the marine life. While bringing in algae the nutrients also killed grasses on the seafloor. These seafloor bed grasses that once covered more than half of the Chesapeake Bay’s floor now only covered a tenth of their original area. Though the estuary was having problems it did not receive the terrible pollution from industries that many large rivers and lakes do in other urban areas (Brown, p. 397).

It is also notable that while this response is clearly evident on the barrier coast, waves and surge show considerably more inundation for the 1990s scenario when compared to that of 1950 along the bay marsh shorelines and farther inland” . The loss of the barrier was directly and indirectly altered by human activities. Within the past 40 years, barrier islands and marshes have drastically diminished along the coast and are projected to continue to do so without a major restoration

The Chesapeake Bay is a 200-mile-long estuary extending from Norfolk, VA to Havre de grace Maryland. On average this bay contains about 68 trillion liters of water. This bay is the largest estuary in North America. It inhabits more than 3,000 species of plants, animals, and fish. “Since the early twentieth century, the Chesapeake Bay has experienced serious environmental degradation. Problems include large reductions in sea grass, reduced amounts of finfish and shellfish (especially oysters and crab), seasonal depletions in dissolved oxygen, and increases in sedimentation.” (Atkins & Anderson, 2003) These changes are brought on by pollution (Eutrophication and Toxic Contamination), development, deforestation, and agriculture. And according

Coastline changes due to weather and human intervention represent a major concern for coastal planners all over the world. Coastline changes, not only has an effect on citizens who own property by the seaside, it also has a major effect on our business here at McDuff. While beaches may be vacation spots for some, their disappearance through erosion a great

The association of length of residency with attitudes toward publicly-provided community-wide services has long been documented in the literature outside of economics (Kelsy 1998; Spain 1993). Within economics _and despite the ubiquitous studies in the valuation literature that address preference heterogeneity as it relates to measures of socioeconomic status (e.g. age, gender, education and income) _ research that considers duration of residency as a potential source of preference heterogeneity is relatively rare. Among the few available studies are Cho et al, (2005; 2008) and Johnston et al. (2003) whose findings suggest that welfare for land conservation attributes is significantly different depending on length of residency. That is, willingness

Seagrasses are essential primary producers that provide habitat and refuge to fauna. Anthropogenic influences have caused global loss of seagrasses and a major contributor is eutrophication, which increases phytoplankton and algal populations, reduces light availability, and causes daily hypoxic conditions. Eutrophication is commonly linked to declines in temperate conditions and is more difficult to link to tropical systems since decreases are typically related to physical damage and diminishing light conditions from runoff. Climate change, herbivore declines, disease and overfishing, along with anthropogenic impacts from coastal development, run-off, eutrophication, and aquaculture have caused declines in coral reefs and mangrove systems. These three systems are interconnected and when one system is impacted, secondary impacts are observed in the other systems; coastal ecosystems will be adversely effected and decline. Additional research, conservation, and ways to reduce anthropogenic impacts have been discussed. Restoration is used to reverse habitat loss, although success is varied. Coastal systems and the biological and ecosystem services they provide, may take decades to establish. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are instituted to protect systems from further degradation, restore communities and allow them to flourish naturally. However, local residents are affected by MPAs and may become displaced, have restriction placed on their livelihood, or elimination of their

Human activities along the coastal region have some to a negative effect on the living coral reefs. As indicated in the above

Blue carbon ecosystems have unique characteristics that allow them to be incredibly efficient, natural carbon sinks. Coastal ecosystems tend to be underrated, but are slowly beginning to be recognised for their ability to sequester and store carbon at far greater efficiencies in comparison to terrestrial forests. A combination of natural and human processes over time has led to the deterioration of coastal ecosystems, risking the sustainable provisioning of environmental services that is provided by these ecosystems. With the value of these coastal environments are beginning to be recognised, there is a need for literature to focus on ways to protect and restore the ecosystems, and management strategies that must be implemented accordingly.

Coastal developments and construction activities put the marine water quality under pressure through the waste production and deposition into the marine. Additionally, dredging could result in the presence of excess sediment in the water column that might activate toxic algal cysts and release sediment pollutants back to the water column. The tightening of the water pathways due to construction also influences the water flow and circulation resulting