Human Use and Management
Urban and Industrial Development
Human use of coastal areas can change the landscape and alter natural coastal processes.
Human use of coastal areas can change the landscape and alter natural coastal processes.
- Coastal cities are more often than not ports.The building of big artifical harbours interferes with the coasts natural sediment drift processes, described here.
- Pollution also becomes a big issue for larger coastal settlements. When pollution and sewage is released into the ocean by settlements this can impact negatively on water quality. Hopefully in MEDC's waste can be treated in treatment works before it is discharged into the ocean. However in LEDC's this is much less likely to occur.
- The traditional industry for a coastal settlement was fishing but this soon became joined by heavy industry in MEDC's. Good examples being coal mining, iron works and chemicals in the NE of England. The fishing industry has also expanded into fish farms which are large scale contained fishing operations.
- The coastal area is also a point where rich hydrocarbon reserves are more accessable and so they are often heavily exploited. A good example is the oil and gas industry off the coast of Scotland. Oil rigs and pipes can cause degradation of the coastal zone, eg. on the coastline of Nigeria.
- Coastal sand and gravel is quarried and dredged for construction. This interupts the sediment circulation patterns and causes beach depletion. For example the Baie d'Audierne in Brittany has retreated 50m in 50 years because of offshore gravel dredging.
The Demand for Land
- Flat coastal land is really convenient for large factory development and deep-water docking facilities. In the majority of cases demand is outstripping supply. Coastal wetland reclamation and even the construction of artifical land are now common place ways of meeting this demand. The Polders in the Netherlands and areas around Felixstow in Suffolk are reclaimed land. Large coastal cities like Hong Kong which are very short on available land are also reclaiming land. Hong Kongs Chek Lap Kok International Airport is an example of a large project built on reclaimed land.
Tourism
- Tourism is a huge coastal industry and if managed correctly could be a much more sustainable use for coastal areas. The reason being, that the success of the industry is directly linked to the coast remaining a beautiful place to visit with sections of the industry reliant of the bio-diversity of the area.
- However many coastal sites are managed poorly leading to degradation of the coastline. Spains Costa Del Sol is an example of an area in economic decline because the coast is no longer as attractive to tourists.
- Other common features of coastal tourism are facilities like golf courses, campsites and marinas.