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Goal 5. Waterfront Communities: Increase the Economic Competitiveness and Environmental Sustainability of Coastal Communities and Water-Dependent Businesses
The draw of Florida’s coasts is undeniable; people relish the opportunity to live, work and play as close to her shorelines and waterways as possible. The state’s economic well-being is inextricably linked to its coastal and marine resources. It leads the nation in saltwater recreational boating, with nearly 1 million boats are registered here, approximately one for every 17 citizens. On the east coast of Florida alone, recreational boating activities help contribute $7.5 billion annually to Florida’s economy. Florida’s marine industry generates over 180,000 jobs and represents a total economic output of over $14.1 billion.
Florida’s coastal communities and water-dependent businesses face difficult, yet critical challenges: how to balance population growth, development pressure, recreational demands and tourism with maintenance and enhancement of coastal environmental quality. There is a compelling need to foster strategies for community development and business growth that are compatible with the environment and that are sustainable.
By the year 2025, the population of Florida’s coastal counties is projected to approach that of the entire state in 2000. Coastal communities are experiencing greater competition for limited near-shore resources and a corresponding increase in the number and intensity of conflicts over waterside and waterfront use patterns. A November 2004 study by The Florida Senate’s Committee on Community Affairs suggests that growth in boating far outstrips the construction or enhancement of public boating access facilities. Since 1987, the number of facilities has remained relatively steady (or increased slightly), while the number of registered boats has grown by 56 percent. Compounding this trend are long-term economic forces that promote the conversion of publicly accessible waterfront property to private uses.
The increasing use of Florida’s waterways and waterfronts creates competing and conflicting pressures among boaters, waterfront users and the natural environment. This is exemplified by the often-bitter controversy over manatee protection measures—such as restricted boat traffic speeds—which has led to litigation at local, state and national levels. Marine industry representatives cite a permitting process associated with waterway maintenance and facility construction that becomes ever more expensive and time-consuming. A universal complaint is lack of adequate scientific information to make informed resource management decisions and to monitor long-term impacts.
Water-dependent enterprises—traditionally small businesses engaged in recreation, tourism and the marine trades—are at risk and need to increase their productivity and efficiency by adopting new technologies, adapting to changes in the regulatory environment and maintaining access to coastal waters. For sustainable development to succeed, all stakeholders—including users, decision makers, regulators and resource managers—need new methods and information sources with which to assess the individual and cumulative links between communities and industries and their physical, economic and environmental impacts.
The broad goal for this strategic area is to reduce regulatory costs associated with waterway management and maintenance while simultaneously reducing the environmental damage caused by boating and water-dependent use of the waterways. Another goal is to cause boating and waterway management to be based on science principles.
Principal audiences for this goal area are local, state, regional or federal agencies that have management responsibility for water-dependent uses of Florida’s waterways, marina operators, boaters and other waterway users, elected officials, non-governmental organizations, consulting engineering firms and the water-dependent marine industries.
Principal products and activities for this goal area are: the production of boater information guides, training programs and materials to be delivered via workshops and the Internet; scientific journal articles; and, decision support tools and resource management models that incorporate geographic information technologies.
The broad performance indicators will be measurement of changes (decreases) in waterway management and maintenance costs, the adoption of scientific principles for waterway and boating management by resource management and regulatory agencies, and a reduction in the number of boating incidences that are harmful to habitat.
A. Foster economically and environmentally sustainable growth for coastal communities and water-dependent businesses
- Develop environmental and economic sustainability goals that assist public policy decision makers in managing coastal communities and water-dependent businesses; develop corresponding indicators that measure progress towards goal attainment.
- Evaluate social and economic costs and benefits that derive from public to private conversion of waterfronts and waterway access points, examine the causes of decline/growth in recreational and working waterfronts and analyze incentives to retain water-dependent and water-related facilities that serve public needs and reflect social values. Extend research findings to community decision makers.
- Evaluate public policy and regulatory and non-regulatory tools that increase/decrease the rate of public to private conversion of waterfronts and waterway access points.
- Create and extend new technologies and products that meet emerging business opportunities, ranging, for example, from concepts that improve charts for recreational boaters, public access to ocean observation system information and equipment modifications for vessels that reduce or eliminate environmental impacts.
B. Develop decision support tools and information to guide public policy and to support coastal zone management
- Evaluate the cumulative and secondary impacts on coastal ecosystems due to development, tourism and recreation; develop the capacity to forecast the long-range sustainability of coastal ecosystems; and provide comprehensive spatial/temporal perspectives on environmental/economic impacts of various coastal development scenarios. Extend research findings to decision makers and the public.
- Analyze the bio-physical effects of navigational improvements and boating activity on waterways and adjacent habitats.
- Link decision concepts —such as place-based management, growth management and water surface zoning— with the application of geographic information technologies (geographic information systems, global positioning systems, remote sensing, etc.) to plan for optimal use of coastal shorefronts and adjacent waterways.
- Develop methods to characterize, map and forecast recreational boating patterns and activities, both in time and geographic space.
- Measure the economic value to coastal communities and water-dependent businesses of natural resources (“natural capital”) and develop and extend informational products for citizens and community decision makers.
C. Create a regulatory and non-regulatory framework for sustainable community development and business growth
- Determine the efficacy of best management practices (BMP) for water-dependent businesses, such as those employed in the Clean Marina Program; develop non-regulatory mechanisms that enhance voluntary compliance with environmental BMP; and examine empirical relationships between voluntary compliance strategies and actual results.
- Determine how new technologies and decision concepts that pertain to near-shore waters fit into the complex federal, state and local jurisdictional framework for marine waters.
- Develop a legal concept for the most common issues that give rise to coastal and marine conflicts and evaluate alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.
- Assist coastal communities that have endured declines in their economic bases to refocus and use existing resources to their economic and environmental advantage.
D. Facilitate informed public, business and policy decisions
- Develop and provide training in geographic information technologies for coastal resource managers and policymakers that incorporate case studies relevant to Florida coastal management issues.
- Develop and disseminate materials for owners/operators of water-dependent businesses and for their clientele that increase environmental stewardship, provide information on safe on-water behavior, increase economic competitiveness and enhance the recreational experience.
- Facilitate disaster preparedness and response for marine interests, particularly the boating-related sector.
- Participate as a principal partner in the Clean Boating Partnership and its Clean Marina and Clean Boatyards programs.
Florida Sea Grant recently added an extension specialist in the area of boating and waterway management. To complement this added expertise, a statewide specialist is needed in the area of coastal management and growth to address economic and environmental issues associated with land-side coastal development patterns that influence waterway resources. At least a half-time legal specialist would also be helpful. In tandem, the two specialists could also address priorities outlined in ecosystem health (Goal 6) and coastal hazards (Goal 7).
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