2004 Coastal Management National Survey

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In Winter 2003/2004 the Coastal States Organization (CSO) sponsored a national survey of state coastal resource managers to better understand their science and technology needs. The web-based survey was sponsored by CSO with funding provided by the Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET) at the University of New Hampshire. This survey builds upon a previous survey conducted by CSO in 1999. CSO contracted with the Urban Harbors Institute (UHI) at UMass-Boston to prepare the survey questions and final report. The University of New Hampshire Survey Center was contracted to conduct the survey and analyze the results.

Two hundred thirty (230) respondents completed the survey from 33 states, territories and Commonwealths. Organizations participating in this survey included the Coastal States Organization (CSO), National Estuarine Research Reserve Association (NERRA), Association of National Estuary Programs (ANEP), Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM), Association of State Wetland Managers (ASWM), Association of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators (ASIWPCA), and the Atlantic States Fishery Management Commission (ASFMC).

Key Findings

1. The two top-ranked management topics identified to be very important or important at the national-level are land use (97%) and habitat change (94%).

2. There are common national-level research, information and technology needs that can be identified when viewed across the management topics. For research, several of the top-ranked needs fall into two categories of cumulative effects and source identification/tracking. Trends/change analysis is a common category of top-ranked information needs, and remote sensing and improved models are two common categories for technology needs.

3. At the national-level, cumulative effects (research needs), trends/change analysis (information needs), and remote sensing (technology needs) are all associated with the top-ranked categories of land use and habitat change. This is an important connection because it indicates that by addressing these top-ranked needs, it will speak to both the most important management topics that coastal managers are facing, as well as have the broadest application of needs across the management topics.

4. At the regional-level, land use and habitat change generally are identified as very important or import management issues. Greater variations in the top-ranked management issues occur at the program and state-levels, likely a reflection of the differences in program goals and state specific circumstances.