An Assessment of Lake-Level Fluctuations on Beach and Shoreline Changes

Using data collected from May 1978 to November 1996, this article assesses the effects of fluctuating water levels on the beach and shoreline at the Northeast Beach, Point Pelee, Lake Erie, Canada. To compare the serial dynamics of lake levels with net shoreline positional changes and beach net sediment flux, the data are transformed to standard scores to deal with the differences in the units and in the scale associated with each variable. The results demonstrate that over the 18-year period, fluctuating lake levels are associated with shifts in shoreline position and the development of various aggradational and degradational states at the beach. A sustained rapid rise in lake levels will initiate an erosional sequence which will persist even with declining water levels. With a persistent decline in water levels the beach and shoreline will adjust very gradually from unstable, erosional states to an aggradational state. Other results emphasize that those beach sectors directly governed by artificial structures suffered disproportionately higher erosion during high-water levels. Coastal managers must, therefore, be cognizant of the fact that shore protection devices must be carefully designed in order to be effective against the influence of fluctuating lake levels.     

Capacity Building for Integrated Coastal Management in Asia-Pacific: The Case for Case Studies

Development of awareness and capacity is a central component to the delivery of ICM and spans from local communities to national-level politicians. Education and training activities associated with ICM must be extremely varied to match both the existing capacity and role that the stakeholders play within the process of ICM. Consequently, there cannot be considered any effective “generic” ICM training; training must be tailored to match the requirements of target groups. The transfer and uptake of good-practice thus becomes an important aspect of quality enhancement in ICM capacity development. Six case studies from the Asia-Pacific region are presented that show diverse and innovative examples of good practice. A comparative analysis of these case studies is carried out in terms of institutional level of impact. In addition a generic systems-based evaluation framework is used to determine the extent to which the training impacts upon ICM implementation indicators. It is concluded that the exchange, transfer, and translation to local conditions of appropriate good practice in ICM capacity development can be an important element in enhancing the impact of ICM programs on the coastal environments and societies. Furthermore, there appears to be a positive link between the involvement of national/state/regional stakeholders in capacity-building initiatives and impacting a wider variety of indicators of ICM delivery.     

An Overview of Spatial Management and Marine Protected Areas in the East China Sea

Marine ecosystems of the East China Sea are rich in biodiversity, with 12,933 species of which approximately 47.7% are endemic. As anthropogenic impacts are intensifying, fishery resources and biodiversity in the East China Sea are under threat from overfishing, habitat loss, pollution, and biological invasions. Marine protected areas (MPAs) and other spatial management measures are believed useful tools to protect and restore biological resources. Seventeen nature reserves, seven special marine reserves, and three fishery resource conservation zones covering a combined area of 102,156 km² have so far been established in the Chinese East China Sea in order to protect fishery resources, biodiversity, and marine landscapes. This article provides a review and inventory of MPAs in the Chinese East China Sea as implemented by the People's Republic of China.     

Lessons from a Multi-Scale Historical Reconstruction of Newfoundland and Labrador Fisheries

In this article we use a multi-scale, multi-method historical reconstruction of post– World War II social-ecological interactions within fisheries in Newfoundland and Labrador to explore the dynamics of intensification, expansion, and resource degradation in managed fisheries. Our case study draws on landings statistics, other archival information, and the Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) of fish harvesters to explore these linked dynamics at the macro, meso, and micro levels. By some measures we found large scale trends toward intensification of effort leading to over-harvesting at macro (province wide) levels. At the same time, at the local level (micro-scale) and across sectors and regions (the meso-scale), we found highly fluid fishing practices and a complex suite of stated motivations for change. As a basis for effective governance, an understanding of the dynamics of interactive restructuring in social ecological systems will require multi-scale analyses that are sensitive to this complexity.     

Examining Residents’ Proximity,Recreational Use,and Perceptions Regarding Proposed Aquaculture Development

Competing interests related to marine resources have the potential to create conflict in the coastal zone. In many parts of the world marine farms exist in close proximity to areas that support recreation and tourism. The purpose of this study was to examine residents’ perceptions of proposed marine farm development related to their proximity to, and recreational use of, a coastal area in New Zealand. Residents from two areas were surveyed about their recreational use of the region and about perceptions related to marine farm development. Results indicated that those living closest to proposed marine farms used the area more often and in different ways, were most sensitive to marine farm development, and were less positive in their evaluations of marine farms, despite agreeing that marine farms can have positive economic consequences for nearby communities. Implications for using stakeholder input for the planning and management of marine farms are discussed.     

Power plant siting on Wisconsin's coasts: A case study of a displaceable use

Abstract

The issue of whether power plants should be located on Wisconsin's Lake Michigan shore or inland is addressed in this article. It is quite likely that sites for several large power plants will be needed before the year 2000. Available evidence on the comparative costs of condenser cooling indicates that there may or may not be substantial economies from locating these plants at lakeshore sites depending on site characteristics, fuel costs, and other variables. Environmental impacts of coastal and inland siting are surveyed and also appear to be highly site‐specific. Important issues arise with respect to the intense competition for coastal land and the aquatic impacts at both coastal and inland sites. A third alternative, that of utilizing sites that are in the coastal zone but set back from the water's edge, has some promising aspects, but data on costs are scarce and inconclusive. Conclusions center on the importance of not ruling out either coastal or inland locations in future efforts to identify suitable power plant sites, the need to review current water‐quality measures, and the need for further research on institutions to facilitate sound siting decisions.     

The confined disposal program for polluted dredged spoil in the great lakes

Abstract

Delay in the construction of containment sites is allowing time for significant adjustments in the confined disposal program of the Great Lakes. Through modification of the pollution criteria and improvements in harbor sampling, fewer containment sites, some with smaller capacities, are now required. Perhaps most important, the delays are providing additional time for upgrading waste treatment facilities which may be reducing future dredging volumes. Unless pollution abatement measures are implemented and technological improvements made regarding containment of the excess spoil water, cleanup of the harbors and connecting channels may not be fully accomplished during the 10‐year period in which containment sites are authorized.     

User perceptions about marine wilderness on Australia's Great Barrier Reef

Wilderness traditionally has been a terrestrial resource designation. This study examined user perceptions related to the existence of wilderness in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP), and raises questions about the efficacy of the GIS based Australian National Wilderness Inventory (ANWI) as a method of inventorying and analyzing wilderness settings in the absence of such perceptions. Three hundred eighty‐three users of the GBRMP were surveyed. Results indicated that over 80% of the respondents believed that wilderness existed in the park, and that it existed both above and below the surface of the water. Characteristics of wilderness related to human presence, natural features, and remoteness were found to be important to marine wilderness. Responses revealed that remoteness (physical distance) from human development may warrant less weight in the designation of marine wilderness than implied as necessary by the ANWI. We discuss implications for selecting areas as wilderness and using the wilderness designation in marine settings.     

Lubrication characteristics of spiral groove liquid seals for use in the carrier of a vane-type external LPG fuel pump

We analyzed the lubrication characteristics of a design-selected spiral groove liquid seal for the critical component, the carrier, of a rotary vane-type fuel pump developed for external installation on fuel tanks for liquid phase LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) injection (LPLi) vehicles, with the aim of fundamentally improving lubrication performance and so protecting the carrier from early frictional wear damage at its suction face. The main reason for selecting a spiral groove pattern was because the viscosity of liquid LPG is very low, comparable to that of air, and current commercial dry gas seals adopting spiral grooves have been successfully employed in completely noncontacting applications. Utilizing the Galerkin finite element lubrication analysis method, a detailed lubrication characteristic analysis of the seal was performed, and lubrication performance optimization was performed by systematic parameter analyses of the design variables. Compared to the initial reference design, the final optimized spiral groove seal design had a groove depth increased by 66.7% and an equilibrium seal clearance increased by 65.3%. Our model also predicted that under a condition of equilibrium between the closing force of the pumping pressure and the seal opening force, the optimally designed carrier spiral groove liquid seal was capable of maintaining a stable lubricating film with sufficient axial stiffness and thereby demonstrated successful noncontact operation; in addition, leakage through the seal was minimal.     

Design methodology of hybrid electric vehicle energy sources: Application to fuel cell vehicles

This paper presents a methodology to optimize the sizing of the energy and power components in a fuel cell electric vehicle from the driving mission (which includes driving cycles, a specified acceleration and autonomy requirements). The fuel cell and the Energy Storage System associated (battery or/and ultra capacitor) design parameters are the numbers of series and parallel branches respectively Nsi and Npi. They are set so as to minimize the objective function that includes mass, cost, fulfilling the performance requirements and respect the technological constraints of each power component through a penalty function. The methodology is based on a judicious combination of Matlab-Simulink® for the global simulation and a dedicated software tool Pro@Design®. Both are well suited to treat inverse problems for the optimization. An application for a fuel cell/battery powertrain illustrates the feasibility of the proposed methodology.