Strong science, fantastic venue, and exciting wildlife...

CERF 2011 Is Shaping Up

Jim Fourqurean, CERF 2011 Conference co-Chair

jim.fourqurean@fiu.edu

Holly Greening, CERF 2011 Conference co-Chair

hgreening@tbep.org

(originally published in Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation Newsletter, October 2010, Vol. 36, No. 3, p. 11)

I hope that you all are eagerly anticipating the upcoming CERF 2011 meeting “Societies, Estuaries and Coasts: Adapting to Change.” The scientific program committee, headed by David Rudnick and David Yoskowitz, is working diligently to continue the tradition of strong, disciplinary science sessions, as well as to put emphasis on the nexus of science, social science, management and policy, that will be the key to understanding and adapting to changes on the horizon for the coastal zone. We had a strong response to our calls for special sessions proposals, and the meeting leadership team will be working over the next few weeks to meld these session proposals into a coherent and exciting scientific program.

We are also working on ways to improve the flow of information from the scientists and managers, who make up the membership of CERF, to policymakers. We are particularly excited about a new initiative called “Science for Community Leaders,” in which we will bring together local and regional policymakers with CERF members around a special poster session designed to educate these policymakers about the science and consequences of changes in the coastal environment.

The venue for the meeting looks fantastic! The Ocean Center at Daytona Beach is a perfectly sized conference center for a CERF meeting: it is large enough to accompany the expected 1500+ attendees for the meeting but not so huge that we feel lost in the facility. The session rooms, poster/exhibit area, and special purpose rooms are ideally suited for a meeting like ours. Plus, the location is hard to beat – it is directly across the street from Daytona Beach, one of the premier surfing beaches along the

Atlantic Coast. Restaurants, pubs, and shopping nearby – along with the beach itself – will provide plenty of opportunity for distraction when you have absorbed all of the coastal science, management, and policy information you can for the day.

Local coastal and estuarine scientists are pitching in to provide a feel for the environments and culture of the area. Our field trip team is putting together a diverse set of pre-meeting excursions to local coastal ecosystems. November is a great time to be outdoors in central Florida; and there will be plenty of opportunities to get out into the diverse coastal environments to bird watch, spot wildlife, and learn about environments you have only read about. We have also called on local expertise on wildlife of a different sort to work on evening entertainment at the meeting.

For those of you wondering what to expect from the weather in Daytona Beach in November, the answer is, if climatology is a good guide, delightful!

The average daytime high in November is 75°F (24°C for our international attendees) with nighttime lows of 56°F (13.5°C). The sun shines at least 2/3 of the days of the month, on average, with rain falling only seven days of the month. This means it will be pleasant walking around and enjoying all that the area has to offer.

From our perspective, the CERF 2011 meeting in Daytona Beach looks like it will extend the long list of scientifically enriching, professionally important, and personally relaxing CERF meeting of the past. Please hold the dates, 6-11 November 2011; and we look forward to seeing old colleagues and making new ones on the beach in Daytona!

Bridging Environmental and Human Dimensions

Can CERF Help Find Solutions?

David Yoskowitz

Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies,

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

david.yoskowitz@tamucc.edu

Robert Costanza

Institute for Sustainable Solutions,

Portland State University

robert.costanza@pdx.edu

(originally published in Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation Newsletter, October 2010, Vol. 36, No. 3, p. 7, 25)

  

There is little doubt that we have a love affair with our coasts, to the point that already stressed ecosystems and infrastructure will become more so, even without considering the potential impacts of climate change. In 2000, the estimated world population was 5.7 billion, with 2.3 billion living within 100km of the coast. While it is expected that the proportion of the population (40%) living along the coast will not change over the next fifteen years, there will be 600 million more people in this traditionally sensitive area as world population climbs to 7.4 billion by 2025.1 That is equivalent to dropping the population of two United States’ into the world’s coastal zone. Of greater concern are the low elevation coastal zones (10 meters or less), which are 2% of the world’s land area and contain 10% of the global population. More dramatic is the fact that developing countries have a higher share of their population (14%) in this zone than developed countries (10%).2 In the U.S., coastal counties account for almost one-third of the population. The dramatic increase in coastal population for the Gulf of Mexico between 1960 and 2008 was 150%. In that same time period, coastal population grew 110% in the Pacific coast.3 The impact of future population growth will have a disproportionate impact on the environment as lower quality resources are utilized,4 and our coast will bear an unusually large part of the environmental degradation. 

  Our coasts are headed for a shipwreck, and it is critical that decision makers in both the private and public sectors take into account all the benefits and costs in order that those decisions are effective. Environmental decision-making cannot be the domain of one discipline and still be effective. Those decisions must be supported by not only the natural sciences but social/cultural considerations, political realities and economic science. Right or wrong, a number of decisions that impact our environment are based on their monetary costs and benefits. It is critical that the socio economic values of our coastal resources are accounted for when decisions are being made.

  The Deepwater Horizon blowout highlights concerns about what may happen to our coastal and marine ecosystems and how those changes can affect us. This unfortunate event provides an opportunity to once again bring to light the critically important interconnectedness between the well-being of the natural environment and human well-being. The traditional market economy impacts were the focus shortly after the beginning of the event, and included primarily the commercial fishing and tourism industries. 

At its peak, 36% of Gulf of Mexico federal waters were closed to commercial fishing.5 This sector alone supported around 176,000 jobs in 2008.6 Tourism, on the Gulf coast, sustains over 400,000 jobs, with visitor spending reaching $34 billion (2008).7 

   At least as important to our well-being are the non-traditional goods and services we have come to rely upon without formally recognizing them. Early on after the blowout had begun, it was estimated that the value of the goods and services provided by coastal marsh only, which may have been potentially impacted by oil, was $1.2 billion a year.8 It has been calculated that the greater Mississippi River Delta ecosystems may provide in the range of $12-47 billion annually in benefits to people, including storm and flood protection, water supply and quality, and recreation and fisheries.9 To provide perspective, the gross domestic product for the State of Louisiana was $222 billion in 2008.10 The most conservative number from above ($12 billion) would make the services provided equal to 5% of the state’s economy, equivalent to its health care and social assistance industry.

   There has been a major shift over the last two decades of how we look at ourselves in relation to the environment. To a greater degree we understand that humans are part of the surrounding ecosystem and not separate from it and therefore have an increased sense of responsibility. Given its mandate, what role can CERF play in bridging the environmental and human dimensions? With CERF 2011, the board has made the conscience decision to begin to incorporate the social and policy sciences into not only the program but also the Federation at large. The momentum that is building must continue beyond the next biennial meeting. The Federation, given its diverse current and future membership, has the opportunity to elevate not just the academic practice of multidisciplinary research but the application of that work to make more effective policy.

   One way to do this is for CERF and its members to engage more directly with coastal stakeholders. Sponsoring workshops and short courses aimed at solving realworld problems can go a long way in this direction. These solutions-focused events can occur both in conjunction with the biennial meeting and at other times. It is also important that we communicate more broadly and more effectively, both across disciplines and between the science, policy, and various stakeholder communities. The new journal/ Web site, Solutions (www.thesolutionsjournal.org), is trying to do just that, incorporating a variety of new techniques to encourage dialog and consensus-building on real, integrated solutions. Additionally, utilizing the Federation’s own journal, Estuaries and Coasts, to publish more work dealing with the social and policy issues of our coasts will also help open up the discourse.

Time is running out. We know much about the problems and need to now focus on applying what we know toward finding solutions. CERF and its members can help lead the way.

ENDNOTES

1 Duedall, I.W. and G. A. Maul, 2005.  Demography of Coastal Populations 

in Encyclopedia of Coastal Science, edited by Maurice L. Schwartz,  Springer, Netherlands. pp. 368-374.

2 McGranahan, G., D. Balk, and B.  Anderson. 2007. “The rising tide: 

assessing the risks of climate change and human settlements in low elevation coastal zones.” Environment and  Urbanization 19:17-37.

3 Wilson, S.G. and T.R. Fischetti, 2010.  Coastline Population trends in the

United States; 1960 to 2008. U.S.  Department of Commerce, U.S. Census

Bureau. 

4 Ehrlich, P. 2010. The MAHB and the  BioScience Gang. BioScience Vol. 60

 No. 3, pp:170-71.

5 “Deepwater Horizon/BP Oil Spill: Size  and Percent Coverage of Fishing Area Closures Due to BP Oil Spill”. NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Regional Office. http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/ClosureSizeandPercentCoverage. htm. Retrieved 2010-09-02. Table.

6 “Fisheries Economics of the U.S., 2008” NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Science and Technology.  http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/st5/publication/fisheries_economics_2008.html. Retrieved 2010-09-02.

7 Oxford Economics. “Potential Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill on Tourism”. Retrieved 2010-09-02.

8 McKinney, L. and D. Yoskowitz, 2010.  The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill –Putting a Price on the Priceless. Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies.

9 Batker, D. , I. de la Torre, R. Costanza, P. Swedeen, J. Day, R. Boumans, and K. Bagstad, 2010. Gaining Ground.  Wetlands, Hurricanes, and the Economy: The Value of Restoring the Mississippi  River Delta. Earth Economics. 100 pages. 

10 Gross Domestic Product by State,  Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce. http://www.bea.gov/regional/gsp/. Retrieved 2010-09-16. Gross domestic product is a measure of a country’s or state’s overall economic output but not necessarily a good measure of the its standard of living.

Science for Community Leaders: CERF 2011 Special Poster Session

New Approach to an Old Challenge—Your Ideas Welcome!

Holly Greening, CERF 2011 Conference co-Chair

hgreening@tbep.org

(originally published in Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation Newsletter, October 2010, Vol. 36, No. 3, p. 6)

Communicating to decision-makers about estuarine and coastal science findings

and current topic status continues to be recognized as an important objective of

CERF—and is probably one of the more difficult tasks to implement.

The Conference Core Team is developing an idea, which evolved during

discussions with CERF Board members and staff at the Daytona Beach Museum

of Arts and Sciences (MOAS). MOAS leaders are enthusiastic about the upcoming

CERF conference in Daytona Beach; CERF 2011 will be the largest scientific

conference the city has hosted. MOAS sees this as an opportunity to promote the role

of arts and science in the community. The MOAS membership roster includes many

local decision-makers and successful business leaders, who actively support the arts

and sciences in the Daytona Beach area. They are interested in partnering with

CERF 2011 to create an event that engages their membership and our scientists in a

meaningful and enjoyable way. The Director and Curator of MOAS also believe that

their members would be interested in being invited “inside” the conference and

in interacting with CERF’s scientists and managers as they work.

Our concept is to convene a special poster session, in conjunction with a

scheduled evening poster/social event, entitled, “Science for Community Leaders.”

The MOAS membership will be invited to attend and talk with our conference

attendees in an informal social setting, which will be contained within the

main poster hall. Invitations will also be sent to other local and regional leaders

(nearby National Estuarine Research Reserve directors, National Seashore director,

Florida Water Management officials, college presidents, etc.). The invitees

would be initially welcomed at the special poster area, and would be encouraged

to view posters throughout the poster hall and to talk to all of the presenters

available that evening.

Both invited and contributed posters will be included—and this is where we

need your help! We will be encouraging CERF participants to prepare a poster

on an important coastal topic (oil spill impacts, hurricanes, marine spatial planning,

urbanization, climate change, etc.) or case studies addressing these and

other topics of interest to coastal community leaders.

For this special poster session, the CERF Conference Team will waive the ban

on being the primary author on only one presentation; the abstract fee for this

poster session will also be waived. We will also be providing guidance on poster

presentations for the public (more pictures and graphics, fewer words).

If you are interested in providing input and/or submitting an abstract for a

poster in this special session, please contact CERF 2011 Co-Chair Holly Greening

at hgreening@tbep.org. We welcome your ideas and comments—and look

forward to a lively new venue for communicating coastal and estuarine science

to local decision-makers.