Game of Floods - Windy Point
Fishing Enthusiast
Assignment: Read the role assignment and background reading below, then answer the questions at the end.
Role Assignment:
You are a fishing enthusiast living in Windy Point. You go out fishing with your family or friends almost every weekend, and keep your boat at Windy Point marina. You are concerned about bad storms because they might damage your home or your boat, but that’s just part of life on the coast! You have noticed that the fish are changing with the climate – for example, there are now tons of black sea bass around, and not as many winter flounder. You like the idea of an underwater ‘living shoreline’ style breakwater to protect Windy Point, because it would provide fish habitat – more fishing options for your weekends!
Background Reading:
Three Living Shorelines Creating Habitat, Protecting the Gulf Coast
July 30, 2019
NOAA is working with state partners on living shoreline projects in the Gulf of Mexico—restoring and creating resilient coastal habitats and communities damaged by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
As part of NOAA’s work restoring the Gulf of Mexico’s natural resources after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, it is partnering with three states to build living shorelines on the coast.
An estimated 16 percent of the Gulf of Mexico’s coastline is ‘hardened’, meaning that it is protected by ‘hard’ seawalls and bulkheads. These hard structures are expensive to install and repair, and they are detrimental to the ecosystem. Living shorelines are an environmentally friendly, lower cost alternative to coastal hardening.
In the Gulf of Mexico, oil spills aren’t the only threat to coastal habitat. Shorelines, marsh and barrier islands normally protect habitat and communities. Storms and sea level rise, as well as industrial infrastructure, have deteriorated these habitats. As a result of climate change, the Gulf of Mexico is likely to experience more rainfall and more intense storms in the future, which could make these problems even worse.
The projects described below will create new fish and wildlife habitat. They will also protect other coastal habitat and communities. Together, the three projects will restore more than 60 acres of marsh and 66 acres of reef habitat. This will make up for some of the damages from the 2010 oil spill. The projects will also help protect coastal communities by restoring and protecting natural coastal ‘infrastructure’.
Three Project in Three Gulf States
With the Alabama Swift Tract living shoreline project, NOAA led installation of natural barriers made of rocks and shells, called breakwaters. These breakwaters helped stabilize shorelines and create new habitat in Bon Secour Bay. More than a mile and a half of the new breakwaters are now absorbing wave energy, reducing shoreline erosion, and developing into healthy oyster reefs . The reefs are supporting shellfish and other invertebrates that filter water, and also provide food for fish and other wildlife.
Alabama Swift Tract living shoreline project.
The Hancock County Marsh living shoreline project included construction of six miles of breakwater. It also constructed 46 acres of oyster reef habitat in an area of Mississippi known as Heron Bay. The project will restore 46 acres of marsh behind the breakwater, protecting it from erosive wave energy in the Mississippi Sound. So far, early data collected by NOAA show that the project has been very successful.
Aerial view of living shoreline breakwaters protecting marsh habitat in Mississippi, as part of the Hancock County Marsh living shoreline project.
Pensacola Bay, Florida will soon have four acres of new natural breakwaters at an area called Project Greenshores II. The breakwaters will reduce wave energy, provide oyster reef habitat, and protect marsh. Additionally, there will be construction of up to eight acres of salt marsh habitat along this urban shoreline. Local residents helped select the final site for the project, which helped make sure the community was supportive. Final design and pre-construction monitoring are underway and the project is planned to be constructed in 2020.
For each of these projects, NOAA worked closely with the states (Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida) to implement the project. NOAA also was careful to hire local firms to take on some of the work, supporting blue economy jobs along the way.
Partners plant grasses along a Pensacola Bay shore protected with new reefs for oysters and other shellfish to grow. Photo: Florida DEP.
Living Shorelines Work for Communities
NOAA is investing in living shorelines because they work to protect communities! New Smyrna Beach, Florida has another living shoreline project that was put to the test when Hurricane Matthew brought 90 mile-per-hour winds and four feet of flooding. The living shoreline showed no visible damage after the hurricane, even though at least half of the nearby ‘hard’ shorelines were damaged! This is one of many success stories: living shorelines are less expensive, more environmentally friendly, and do a better job protecting shorelines than hard or armored shorelines.
In the Gulf, as land loss and other coastal threats continue, living shorelines stand out as a critically important solution that will protect ecosystems and make communities more resilient.
Questions:
1. What are two threats to coastal communities in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the article?
2. How is a living shoreline different from a hardened shoreline?
3. hat are two advantages of living shorelines compared to hardened shorelines?
4. Answer this question in character as a Windy Point fishing enthusiast (see the role description at the top). Would you support building a breakwater offshore from Windy Point to protect it from storms? Explain your reasoning.
Once you have answered the above questions, move on to Part 2 here.
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