This focus area supports research and outreach that provide information and techniques that enhance waterfront-related economic activities. This includes engagement of coastal communities in planning processes that support the efforts of community leaders to identify and pursue sustainable economic development and recognition of the need to balance the multiple uses of these resources.

Specific areas of interest to Delaware Sea Grant include:

• Research and outreach activities that provide local communities with information and techniques to enhance waterfront-related economic activities in a sustainable way (e.g., climate prosperity).
• Research and outreach activities that help coastal communities address issues related to natural resource planning from a multi-user perspective.
• Innovative research (science/engineering/policy) that quantifies and translates opportunities for coastal-ocean renewable energy technologies and promotes sustainable land-use practices.
• Partnerships with federal, state, and local agencies and others to enhance development of and support for best practices to foster sustainable economic development in coastal communities.

Delaware Sea Grant has funded the following research projects for the 2009–2011 period:

• Mapping public perceptions and preferences toward wind power development through time
• An economic analysis of shorebirds and shorebirding on Delaware Bay
• Local urban growth and climate change impacts on Delaware Bay sea breeze
• Forecasting the response of Delmarva lagoons to changing land use and climate: Alternative stable state and recovery trajectories

For information about outreach and education activities related to this focus area, visit here.

For additional information, please also see our latest annual report.

Project: Mapping public perceptions and preferences toward wind power development through time (R/CT-6)

Principal Investigators: Jeremy Firestone and Willett Kempton, University of Delaware

In 2005, Delaware Sea Grant researchers Jeremy Firestone and Willett Kempton surveyed residents of Cape Cod, Mass., to learn their opinions about a proposal to establish a wind farm just off their coast. The majority opposed the project.

Firestone and Kempton used the same approach in 2006 to see if Delawareans felt the same way about seeing wind turbines off their own coast.

They didn’t.

In fact, more than 90 percent of Delawareans expressed overwhelming support for offshore wind power as a future source of energy for the state.

Since then, prospects for wind farm development proceeded rapidly in Delaware, with the First State emerging as a potential location for the nation’s first offshore wind farm. Instead of a hypothetical situation, Delawareans are now facing the very real prospect of wind turbines spinning off the coast.

Has increased public awareness of alternative energy resources and the greater likelihood of Delaware having an offshore wind farm in the near future changed public opinion since 2006? Firestone and Kempton are finding out. They are conducting follow-up surveys of residents in both locations to determine how public opinions have evolved over the past several years. Their findings are being used to help shape energy policy as the United States and Delaware work toward generating environmentally friendly, price-stable electricity. They also are shedding light on how and why public attitudes toward offshore wind development have changed over time.

For the full project abstract, click here.

Project: An economic analysis of shorebirds and shorebirding on Delaware Bay (R/CT-4)

Principal Investigator: George Parsons, University of Delaware

Hundreds of thousands of migratory birds visit Delaware Bay on their journey from South America to Canada each year. Red knots, sanderlings, ruddy turnstones, semipalmated sandpipers, and other shorebirds stop to feed on horseshoe crab eggs in the shallow waters of the bay and its tributaries.

Sea Grant researcher George Parsons is surveying residents and birdwatchers in Delaware to learn how much they value shorebirds and shorebird conservation programs.

The information will be important for managers and policy makers as they make decisions regarding Delaware Bay’s resources.

For the full project abstract, click here.

Project: Local urban growth and climate change impacts on Delaware Bay sea breeze (R/ETE-16)

Principal Investigator: Dana Veron, University of Delaware

There’s nothing like the smell of the salty sea breeze. But sea breezes are more than just something for your senses. They help control local weather throughout the year. For example, they often cause weather changes that lead to afternoon showers along the coastline. Delaware Sea Grant scientist Dana Veron is researching the sea breeze in an effort to understand its possible connection to human activities.

Increased development can change the surface of the land, including how it reflects or absorbs light and heat. Those changes can impact the sea breeze, particularly how far inland it travels, its strength, and its ability to cause rainfall. As the population in coastal regions continues to increase, changes to sea breeze could impact the local climate — a key factor influencing the region’s agriculture and tourism industries.

For the full project abstract, click here.

Project: Forecasting the response of Delmarva lagoons to changing land use and climate: Alternative stable state and recovery trajectories (R/ECO-7)

Principal Investigator: Arthur Trembanis, University of Delaware, and Maryland/Virginia Sea Grant partners

Nutrients washed into coastal waters from land-based sources play an important role in coastal ecosystems. Nutrients trigger plant production, which in turn support other wildlife making up the coastal food web.

Changing coastal populations and land uses, coupled with potential increases in sea level and water temperatures associated with global climate change, could alter nutrient loads and their impacts on coastal ecosystems. Excess nutrients support algal blooms, which can deprive waters of oxygen and reduce water clarity. Nutrient enrichment can also hinder efforts to restore seagrass beds and support clam aquaculture.

Sea Grant researchers in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia are working together to improve our understanding of how coastal waters respond to changes in nutrient loads. Their work will help communities and government agencies as they make land use decisions and set nutrient reduction goals.

For the full project abstract, click here.