Abstract
There is a close relationship between ports and reef areas, mainly because reefs provide protection to vessels against extreme weather events like storms and hurricanes. This historical relationship has generated severe impacts on reef ecosystems. In order to identify the main impacts from the construction of port facilities in shallow coral reef areas, we analyzed and described the effects of land reclamation and coastal structure construction associated to port growth throughout a century in the Sistema Arrecifal Veracruzano National Park, Mexico. We used aerial photographs and maps of the nineteenth and early twentieth century to assess the impacts caused by port expansion activities on shallow coral reefs. Three types of impacts were identified: (a) direct reef area loss caused by landfills and perpendicular coastal structures construction leading to the loss of nearly 50 % of the fringing reef near to the port; (b) fragmentation in short- and medium-term scale, which affects two fringing reefs, and (c) long-term modification of coastal dynamics leading to sedimentation and loss of a complete reef area. On the eve of a new expansion of Veracruz Port, we used the New Port Project Plan, long-shore net drift geomorphic indicators and the port impact typology from the 100-year period assessment to evaluate a possible future scenario. The scenario describes how the new expansion project will repeat the three types of impacts affecting a whole reef area, which is currently part of the National Park.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Dr. David Salas and Ileana Espejel for their valuable comments on this manuscript. Ana Gutierrez and Yuriditzi Pascasio provided technical support. The Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) provided a doctoral fellowship 161812 to the first author. This research was partially supported by the projects: CONACyT/89526 and 327202010176 DGI-ICMP-UV “Influencia Histórica de la Ciudad y Puerto de Veracruz sobre el Sistema Arrecifal Veracruzano”; and by the Red para el Análisis y Síntesis de la Zona Costera Veracruzana, Golfo de México (RASZCOV) through the project “Bases para el Análisis y Síntesis de los Sistemas Costeros de Veracruz.”
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Valadez-Rocha, V., Ortiz-Lozano, L. Spatial and Temporal Effects of Port Facilities Expansion on the Surface Area of Shallow Coral Reefs. Environmental Management 52, 250–260 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-013-0098-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-013-0098-5