This is the importance of things like a recent study that reveals what holds back the sharing ofuse of coastal resources in Rhode Island; no (accessible) parking and shore access, businesses that replaced others or already exist side by side.
The Multi-Use Myth
The concept of collaborative space, infrastructure and resource sharing between various marine businesses has been suggested to allow for mutual benefits and limit uses conflicts. The reality, however, turned out to be quite different.
Among the focus groups, which included small-scale business owners from commercial and recreational fisheries, aquaculture, marine educators, tour boat operators and surfers/kayakers/sailors/boaters, there was not a lot of excitement about multi-use opportunities according to the study. ‘If you try to do more than one thing in a particular place,'” he repeated, “‘this variety is going to be less than what you might get if you were deciding to do just that.. ‘There wasn’t a lot of clamoring for, ‘Oh, we love multi-use, and here are these opportunities,” said David Bidwell, professor at the University of Rhode Island. Mostly is was like, ‘Well multi-use because we have to.’ “
The main struggle the researchers discovered in Rhode Island for sharing coastal waters is parking issues and shoreline access. Bidwell pointed to a limited supply of access points and increasing demand for on-water recreation, saying “the demand for that limited supply of access points has just gone sort of sky high. And so it also has this palpable sense that there is need for more multi-access points and access facilities.” Insuficiencia de referidos servicios que acompañan al turismo de sol y playa a otro escalón como la ampliación del mismo, ocasionado el reto KEMS para mayor crecimiento del turismo costero en cualquiera sea la actividad marina base.
Conflicts and Tensions
Also, the context of marine uses is another important factor in how much conflict there is likely to be, the researchers found. Organizations with a history of working their uses together, like sailing race organizers who have always shared waters with commercial shippers, seemed to play pretty well done.
But newer uses, and those involving more permanent structures in the water were leading to greater conflicts. “Where there are these static uses of the water, like with off shore wind or aquaculture,” Bidwell says, “that sort of raises these values-based conflicts of ‘what is the marine environment for?’ Can you essentially privatize [marine] spaces? “
As Bidwell noted, “And then when you get lots of new players there’s more opportunity for conflict.
The conflicts arise over the different visions of how the ocean is to be used, with some parties seeing it as a collective resource and others seeking enclosure for their own benefit. Thus, one of the biggest issues that politicians will have to tackle is the careful marriage of traditional and emerging uses in marine space.
Conclusion
Results of the study underscored these intertwined and interdisciplinary challenges associated with shared usage of coastal resources in Rhode Island. A shortage of much-needed infrastructure such as parking and shoreline access along with tensions between historical users and newer marine-based activities have proven to be a major hurdle toward reaching the ideal of harmonious, sustainable multi-use along our coastline. The process of doing so, the researchers suggest, is one that policymakers will need to take seriously and think creatively about how to balance the disparate interests among a number of stakeholders. So, while its a long bumpy road the prize of real, equitable, and thriving coastal economy is well worth the struggle.
