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2: MAJOR COASTAL ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Pages 17-28

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From page 17...
... The recently completed Regional Marine Research Plans (see Appendix C) provided the views of scientists and environmental managers from the major coastal regions of the United States.
From page 18...
... subcommittees for the sake of completeness and to highlight their relevance to improving coastal environmental quality. Although the committee did not rank the nine categories, there was consensus among committee members that the problems associated with changes in the quantity and quality of freshwater inputs and atmospheric deposition of materials to coastal environments are of fundamental importance and are particularly relevant to the Water Subcommittee.
From page 20...
... Moderate inputs of nutrients can have beneficial effects because they stimulate plant production, which can lead to enhanced productivity of living resources. However, many coastal ecosystems receive excessive nutrient inputs, leading to harmful or noxious algal blooms; shifts in food chains; increased sedimentation of organic particles; and, ultimately, depletion of dissolved oxygen, particularly in bottom waters.
From page 21...
... HABITAT MODIFICATION Physical modifications of habitats by either natural forces or human influence pose serious threats to coastal ecosystem integrity and these modifications are often difficult to reverse. Such modification may result from filling of intertidal or subtidal habitat; loss of tidal wetlands; submerged aquatic vegetation or coral reefs due to a decline in water quality or changes in sedimentation; or from changes in the hydrodynamics of coastal systems (discussed later in this chapter)
From page 22...
... , and channelization of tidal wetlands. For example, dredging channels to facilitate shipping provides a pathway for the transport of relatively salty oceanic water into bays and estuaries and can change salinity structure, circulation, flushing, and residence times of these semi-enclosed coastal systems.
From page 23...
... ............ EXPLOITATION OF RESOURCES The exploitation of living and nonliving resources can affect coastal ecosys tem health.
From page 24...
... of some organic compounds may inhibit reproductive processes in aquatic organisms by disrupting endocrine biochemistry (see Box 2~. The disruption of the endocrine system of aquatic organisms extends beyond reproductive processes.
From page 25...
... In addition, even though water column concentrations of toxicants are low, contaminated sediments in many coastal areas can continue to release toxic chemicals to the overlying water column due to natural resuspension or dredging (NRC, 1989) , affecting organisms living in or near the sediments (Dawe, 1991~.
From page 26...
... Regardless of their source, sea level rises cause significant shoreline inundation, overstepping of barrier islands, loss of intertidal wetlands, and increased salinization of coastal embayments. Of all the potential effects of global climate change on coastal environments, the effects of sea level rise have received perhaps the most attention, but other effects of climate change may be even more important.
From page 27...
... Shoreline erosion and hazardous storms are affected in a complex manner by land-use decisions and climate change and, conversely, can greatly affect coastal environmental quality. Studies of global climate change and improvements in the predictability of climate variability (see previous section)
From page 28...
... THE ECOSYSTEM PERSPECTIVE The emerging and widespread environmental threats discussed above pose new challenges to environmental policy, management, and science, requiring different approaches than those used for past coastal problems, such as pointsource discharges of industrial or municipal effluents, coastal land use, direct habitat destruction, and oil spills. These issues have not been eliminated, although some of their effects are relatively well understood, and significant advances have been made in their management in several developed countries, including the United States.


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