Whitney Hoot, Adrianne Michaelis, Martina Gonzalez Mateur

Coastal and marine management systems vary along gradients; this semester, we’ve discussed gradients of size (in terms of physical area) and human population. Less obvious is the maturity gradient - how recent is the environmental management and the science informing the management of an ecosystem? How does this gradient correlate with other environmental management continuums? And why does the maturity gradient matter? As with size and population gradients, maturity gradients are closely tied to development. Increased development leads to significant changes in environmental science and management: the quantity and quality of data; the involvement of stakeholders (from traditional community leaders to international governing bodies); the scale and cost of management efforts; and the difficulty of implementing effective management strategies and policies to conserve or restore an ecosystem.

Of the systems we discussed, environmental management in Western Samoa is the least mature (Figure 1). This small Pacific island state, first settled 3,000 years ago, has only been a nation since 1962. Some of the most pressing threats are development of the coastal lowlands, agricultural runoff, overfishing, and outbreaks of crown of thorns starfish (COTS). Although the upland cloud forests are healthy, population growth and development on the coast is degrading the coastal strand, rivers and streams, and both nearshore and offshore marine environments.[i] In its immature state, environmental management in Western Samoa is firmly guided by NGOs. Additionally, more than three fourths of the total land area is still under traditional customary ownership – this characteristic is unique to immature management systems and means that management efforts must be conducted in close partnership with traditional leaders.

Environmental management in costal Louisiana, which manifested following wetland habitat loss in the 1970s and 80s, is also relatively immature (Figure 1). The coastal wetlands of Louisiana have been built by the Mississippi River over the course of thousands of years, but they are incredibly dynamic and change over the span of decades. The delta has multiple lobes, both active and inactive, where the river used to intersect with the Gulf of Mexico. Over the past century, there was considerable erosion of the shoreline and wetland loss, resulting from canal construction, oil and gas development, the levee system, and decreased suspended sediment in the Mississippi due to damming and increased soil conservation in the watershed. These human impacts have made the coastal ecosystem increasingly vulnerable to storms, saltwater intrusion, sea level rise, and hypoxia. Some of the restoration measures in place include river diversions (which have been most effective), marsh creation, barrier island restoration, and hydrological restoration.

Following Hurricane Katrina, restoration of coastal wetlands in Louisiana has received renewed attention. The 2012 Coastal Management Plan developed by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority is a comprehensive, holistic plan that can serve as an example for other restoration projects.[ii] Notably, the report makes excellent use of models and relies heavily on input from stakeholders. However, one potential weakness of this approach is the limited participation from other states – and nations – that rely on the upstream Mississippi River watershed and the Gulf of Mexico. Further along the maturity gradient than Western Samoa, environmental management in coastal Louisiana has a larger supply of long-term data, greater resources, and more scientific experts giving input than this small island state in the Pacific.

In comparison to both Western Samoa and coastal Louisiana, the New York harbor and Long Island Sound have a relatively long history of environmental science and management (Figure 1). The New York harbor does not resemble the body of water that existed before human settlement; it has been dredged and filled, modified to create shipping channels, contaminated by stormwater and wastewater inputs, and infiltrated by invasive species. Since the 1800s, 85% of wetlands in the NY-NJ harbor estuary have been filled or drained; the goal is to restore 5,000 acres by 2050, but this will still be only a fraction of the original marsh footprint.[iii] After bluepoint oyster populations declined in the 1950s, scientists discovered that the Long Island Sound was N limited – the first time nitrogen was found to be a limiting nutrient. Research in the Long Island Sound also resulted in the first detection of DDT biomagnification. In environmental management, increasing maturity is correlated with increased human capacity, which is an asset for conservation. However, there are disadvantages. In mature systems, there are more experts and researchers; hence, there is more disagreement about how data should be used to inform management. Furthermore, the media in these systems may be clogged with other topics, making it difficult to bring the environment to the top of the agenda and adding complexity to science communication.

Of these systems, the Baltic Sea of Northern Europe is the most mature in terms of environmental science and management (Figure 1). Oceanographers began studying phytoplankton in the Baltic over 150 years ago. This is the world’s largest estuary that is characterized by limited oceanic exchange, hence water has an extended residence time making the system vulnerable to hypoxic and anoxic conditions. The Baltic Sea, which is bordered by nine countries, is facing fisheries declines, decreased water clarity due to large algal blooms, agricultural runoff, and climate-related threats – including increasing surface temperature, acidification, and sea level rise. The Baltic Sea international management consortium, the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM), was founded in 1974, but this region has a long history of environmental science and management preceding the formation of this organization. There is a notable change in the governance structure as we move up the maturity gradient: traditional community leadership in Western Samoa to parishes in Louisiana to inter-state organizations in the NY-NJ harbor to HELCOM in the Baltic. With more mature environmental systems with longer research and management histories, there are higher stakes; it is likely that management strategies applied in these areas will be emulated and disseminated, making them an important source of “lessons learned.”

Ecosystems at varying stages along the maturity continuum face different threats, challenges, and opportunities for environmental management. An advanced system of nutrient cost reduction and nutrient trading has been proposed to manage run-off in the Baltic,[iv] but this may not be a realistic approach for managing the less mature coastal systems of Western Samoa, where the creation of policies to prevent further unsustainable coastline development may be more effective. Regardless of a system’s maturity, adaptive management is key. One challenge facing more mature systems, such as the NY harbor and the Baltic Sea, is the mentality that these systems have been over-studied, which is followed by a drive for more implementation and less research. Even in a system with an extensive history of research, continued monitoring and evaluation is a vital component of successful adaptive management.

The role of sound science in environmental management is crucial for both mature and immature systems, and the resulting science-based management approaches depend on a number of factors that vary along the maturity gradient: biological conditions, culture, economics, governance, human capacity, and data availability. As with the size and population gradients discussed earlier in this blog series, there is co-correlation of these factors (Figure 2). Less mature science and management systems tend to be in smaller systems with lower populations; in these areas, protection and conservation approaches seem to be more widely applied, in contrast to the restoration strategies that are needed in large, mature, heavily populated systems. Notably, the number of relevant stakeholders – and the number of researchers and experts involved – seems to increase along all three of these gradients. The complexity of the science needed to inform management, and its cost also increases along these continuums. In larger, mature systems with significant populations, there is a shift from science of description to science of restoration. Although it is advantageous for these more developed systems to have greater human capacity and more stakeholders, it does become harder to make changes as systems become larger and more mature, indicating a need for early intervention in order to ensure sustainable development and successful environmental management.

References:

[i] Integration and Application Network (IAN), University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. 2012. Samoa 2012 Environmental Outlook: Developing a vision for the next 50 years. Accessed 11 March 2015

[ii] Peyronnin, N., M. Green, C. P. Richards, A. Owens, D. Reed, J. Chamberlain, D. G. Groves, W. K. Rhinehart, and K. Belhadjali. 2013. Louisiana’s 2012 Coastal Management Plan: Overview of a science-based and publicly-informed decision-making process. Journal of Coastal Research 67(1): 1-15

[iii] Restoration Work Group, NY-NJ Harbor and Estuary Program. 2014. Restoring the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary: Ensuring ecosystem resilience and sustainability in a changing environment. Accessed 11 March 2015.

[iv] Wulff, F., C. Humborg, H. E. Andersen, G. Blicher-Mathiesen, M. Czajkowski, K. Elofsson, A. Fonnesbech-Wulff, B. Hasler, B. Hong, V. Jansons, C-M Morth, J. C. R. Smart, E. Smedberg, P. Stalnacke, D. P. Swaney, H. Thodsen, A. Was, and T. Zylicz. 2014. Reduction of Baltic Sea nutrient inputs and allocation of abatement costs within the Baltic Sea catchment. Ambio 43: 11-25.