Management agencies are struggling to balance the pressures of coastal development with theconservation and protection of the coastal environment. Representatives of several managementgroups convened on February 29 to review progress on a NCCOS project studying the ecosystemeffects of shoreline hardening, and offer suggestions on linking research results to regionalmanagement and policy. This marked the second annual meeting of researchers and managerssince the initiation of the project in 2010.
Groups represented included the state managementagencies from Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the USArmy Corps of Engineers, and the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Program.
The large-scale researchproject in the Chesapeake Bay and Delmarva Coastal Bays will evaluate the impacts of extensivemodification of shoreline habitats driven by climate change, pollution and other stressors.The information produced by this project is intended to help transform management from thecurrent 'parcel by parcel' approach to one in which regional ecosystem impacts provide a strongcomponent of the decision-making process.