Of Men and Beaches

Of Men and Beaches

How do we manage our shoreline?

Outline

How much money is at stake?

Who is deciding? How?And the environment in all

that?

How much money is at stake?Total spent in beach activity by the population (2001)

$ 61, 000 B

Federal taxes (2001) $13, 6 B

California state taxes (2001) $ 4,6 B

Total taxes (2001) $ 20,7 B

CA Public beach restoration program 2000-2001

$ 10 millions

California Beach Restoration Study, chap 9.

Who is going to the beach?Americans going to the beach every year

24.8%

CA residents who go to the beach every year

63.8%

Americans who go to picnic every year

15,7%

Americans who go to the zoo every year

13.6%


Who is going to the beach?Americans going to

the beach every year

24.8%

CA residents who go to the beach every year

63.8%

Americans who go to picnic every year

15,7%

Americans who go to the zoo every year

13.6%

year % of household budget devoted to recreation

1919 3.6%

1950 5.3%

2000 8.5%

Year CA LA San Diego

2000 34.5 m 9.7 m 2,8 m

2020 45.8 m 11.6 m 3.9 m% increase 32.8% 19.6% 39.3%

What are people thinking of when they think of the beach?

Beach attendance evolution

Question Weighted mean for all beaches

If it was twice as crowded … ?

-24.78%

If it was half as wide, but just as crowded …?

-29.02%

If it was half as crowded …?

+6.13%

If it took half the time …?

+34.38%


The Solution: Beach nourishment

Before june 1995 After, june 1995 April 1997

Upham beach west central florida http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/wfla/video/vidphotos.html

Estimated tax revenue with and without beach maintenance : could loose 42%Type of tax

With maintenance

Erosion Reduction in tax

State tax

$498M $289M $210M

Federal tax

$1,292M $748M $543M

Local tax

$233M $135M $97M

Total $ 2,024M $1,173M

$851M


Other benefits associated with beach nourishment according to *

Keep the local species (snowy plower, grunion) Numerous studies indicate that people who

engage in outdoor activity are more likely to be sensitive to environmental issues, compared to people who do not recreate outdoors. (American Recreation coalition 1999)

Public safety benefits: limit bluff collapse, protects the coast in case of a

storm. Provide safer access to water for surfers and

swimmers

* California Beach Restoration Study, chap 3.5

Conclusion

People like large sandy beaches and spend a lot of money there.

The public agencies have interest in maintaining sandy beaches.

Who are the other voices in this issue?

Who has a word to say?

Property ownersExpertsGovernment regulatorsPolicy makers, and law

makers

Mitigating shore erosion along sheltered coasts. OSB. Chap 5

Property owners

Want to: maximize their property value, and the use of their property.

Are informed by: handbooks, consultants, gvt regulators, neighbors, flood zone map


Experts and consultants

Want to: satisfy their clientsMake a profitMaintain their credibility

Are informed by:Litterature, experience, field

workGovernment agencies


Government regulators

Want to: implement and enforce regulations

Are informed by: reports of the NRC, consultants, legal counsels, professional networks, experience.

Example: US Army Corps of Engineers.


Policy and law makers

Want:Re-electionMaintain the tax baseQuality of life, public health, safety

and welfareAre informed by:

PressConstituantsStaff(trusted experts in the field)Gvt agencies and NGO’s


Regulation: The public Trust Doctrine The waters of the state are a public

resource owned by and available to all citizens equally for the purposes of navigation, conducting commerce, fishing, recreation and similar uses and that this trust is not invalidated by private ownership of the underlying land.

The doctrine limits public and private use of tidelands and other shorelands to protect the public's right to use the waters of the state.

How is the shore managed today: Regulatory incentive to build seawalls

bulkheads and revetments. Bias towards building landwards of the PTD. Under-evaluation of environmental cost Non - structural erosion control techniques

are under used. Lack of knowledge of options Regulatory response is generally reactive

rather than proactive. Most states have not developed plans for responding to and managing erosion in sheltered shorelines.


California Coastal management program

What has the Coastal Act accomplished? The most important achievements are the things one cannot see: public access and recreation opportunities not lost, wetlands not filled, coastal views not lost, agricultural lands not paved, sprawling subdivisions not built. Highway One has been retained as a scenic two-lane road, attracting visitors from around the world.

California Coastal Commission brochure 2006

Impact of coastal management on the ecosystem

Beach ecosystem

Nutrient uptake:Beaches are usually nutrient limited,

which allows a large variety of plant to compete.

Food productionBeaches support an extensive trophic

structure many on the form of infaunia (animals who live inside the sediment) from bacteria to shore birds

Importing foreign sand will change the ecosystem

Beach ecosystem

NourishmentReplaces the near shore benthic

community with a supra-tidal beach and dune.

BreakwaterThey can host barnacles and oysters,

be the refugee for fish, and for sheltered coastline beach population.

Conclusion

Beach tourism industry has a lot of money and interests involved in it

Mitigation of the changes in our natural environment can have profound effects

Decision making needs to be better advised by scientists.

Of Scientists and Policy makers

Factor Science Policy

Time frame Whatever it takes Immediate, short term

Goal Increase understanding

Manage immediate probems

Basis for decision Scientific evidence Science, values, public opinion, economics

Expectation Understanding never complete

Expect clear answers from science

Grain Focus on details, contradictions

Focus on broad outline

World view Primary of biological, physical, chemical mechanisms

Primacy of polictical imterpersonal, economic mechanisms

Science Policy and the Coast. NRC chap 3

Excerpt from “Science, Policy and the Coast”:

Human ego is a powerful thing and few things offend us and make us react in a negative way as much as the knowledge that another person does not value, respect, or understands what we are as individuals or was we do professionally. Whether it is an interaction between a fisherman and a biologist, an oil worker and an environmentalist , an scientist and a politician, if we interact with others with an attitude of superiority and contempt, conflict is likely. Understanding does not have to mean admiration or agreement, but simply an acceptance of the fact that the other party has legitimate status and ole in the human ecology of the policy making process and views that must be understood in the context of that status and role.

Science Policy and the Coast, Improving decision making. NRC chap 3

BibliographyCalifornia Beach Restoration Study,NRC chap 9.

http://www.nap.edu/catalog/4984.html


http://fermat.nap.edu/books/0309103460/html

Science Policy and the Coast, Improving decision making. NRC chap 3 http://fermat.nap.edu/books/0309053390/html

http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/sma/laws_rules/public_trust.html

http://www.csc.noaa.gov/beachnourishment/html/geo/shorelin.htm

http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/wfla/video/vidphotos.html

http://www.nap.edu/catalog/4984.html







http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/wfla/video/vidphotos.html

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Of Men and Beaches