Vacationers love beaches with shallow water. They are great for families with small kids and for less confident swimmers. Such beaches often attract intense coastal development. However, they are also fragile habitats that are disappearing around the world.
A new study led by the University of South Florida highlights the need to protect these marine ecosystems. Shallow coastal waters are known as tidal flats, and they are critical to global seafood supplies, local economies, and overall marine health. Shallow water ecosystems are interlinked with other marine habitats and are vital for the lifecycle of marine species far from shore.
Shallow water ecosystems are at risk not only from coastal development, but from harmful algal blooms triggered by human activity, from marine heatwaves, and from boats operating in sensitive habitats such as seagrass meadows. These habitats contribute millions of dollars to local economies such as those in Florida but there is not much direct habitat managements in place to protect these ecosystems.
The University of South Florida study, published in the journal Fisheries, enumerated ten core strategies that boaters, anglers, wildlife managers, and policymakers can adopt to prioritize and preserve shallow marine ecosystems from humans and from increasingly powerful weather events. Foremost among these efforts are the protection of key fish species, such as tarpon, whose protection would benefit additional species that use the same habitats.
Habitat management and restoration should be essential concerns for coastal communities to provide long-term benefits for both themselves and for the marine life that depends on shallow-water habitats.
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Why shallow water at the beach is more important than you might realize
Photo, posted February 14, 2018, courtesy of Marcelo Campi via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio
