Items such as imported foods, clothes, and electronics often seem to just appear on our store shelves. Most consumers make purchases without ever contemplating how their favorite South American coffee, French wine, or Italian shoes got from there to here.
The answer is that the majority of goods imported into the U.S. move through one of the 185 commercial seaports found along the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf, and Great Lakes coasts, as well as in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Oceangoing vessels move over 95 percent of U.S. overseas trade by weight and 75 percent by value. U.S. ports and waterways handle more than two billion tons of domestic and import/export cargo annually, and the amount of cargo shipped by water is expected to triple by the year 2020.
While ports bring huge economic benefits to our country, they also can be the source of significant amounts of pollution.
What role can or should coastal resource managers play in ensuring that we have the waterfronts to accommodate rapidly growing marine trade while mitigating the environmental impacts of ports? This is the question we explore in the cover story of this edition of Coastal Services.
Also in this edition, we look at a recent research study in Virginia that has given that state's coastal managers a better tool for identifying the source of contamination in marine waters that is responsible for closing shellfish beds and beaches.
Other articles cover the self-evaluation of Puerto Rico's coastal program, a virtual workshop on aquatic nuisance species, and information on how New York coastal managers are providing cross-border travel tips to boaters and motorists.
As this edition reaches your desk, our writers are already beginning work on the September/October issue of Coastal Services magazine. Please let us know if there are topics you would like to see covered, or if you have successful programs to share with other coastal managers.
-- Margaret A. Davidson
