INTRODUCTION 



The Fish and Wildlife Coordination 

 Act requires any public or private 

 agency proposing activities which would 

 control or modify the waters of any 

 stream or body of water to consult with 

 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) 

 "... with a view to the conservation of 

 wildlife resources by preventing loss of 

 and damage to such resources. .. "(U . S. 

 Dept. of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Ser- 

 vice 1975b). State and Federal legisla- 

 tion requires environmental impact as- 

 sessments prior to construction in the 

 coastal zone. 



The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- 

 vice, charged with reviewing permit ap- 

 plications for construction in coastal 

 zones, must be able to evaluate envi- 

 ronmental impacts and suggest function- 

 ally feasible structural or nonstructural 

 alternatives which could minimize envi- 

 ronmental damage. Before such assess- 

 ments can be made, the initial effects 

 during structure construction, continued 

 impact due to the presence of a struc- 

 ture, and cumulative perturbation due 

 to a number of existing structures with- 

 in a coastal zone must be known. Thus, 

 it is advantageous to have a usable and 

 comprehensive compendium of structure- 

 related information which is specific to 

 biogeographic regions. It is the objec- 

 tive of this report to summarize the 

 known ecological impacts of minor shore- 

 line structures and to define those 

 areas where lack of quantitative data in 

 the published literature makes assess- 

 ment of environmental impacts difficult. 



This report is the final product of 

 a three-phase study. The objectives 

 were 



Task 1. Information Search : To de- 

 a detailed study outline, to inte- 

 it with FWS objectives, to obtain 

 of references and 

 to secure 

 and to 



Task 3. Information Evaluation: 



To 



velop 



grate 



a comprehensive list 



other sources of information, 



what is immediately available, 



outline the effort required to secure the 



other materials. 



Task 2. Information Transformation : 



To review the literature, to extract 

 relevant information and to enter the 

 data in a computer data-base. 



analyze the biological impacts of minor 

 shoreline structures, to identify alter- 

 natives, to describe germane studies in 

 progress and to identify areas of insuf- 

 ficient research . 



Each article or data source 

 examined within the limits set by 

 following outline 



was 

 the 



o 

 o 





 



Structure 



Definition 



Structure functions 



Site characteristics and 



environmental conditions 



Placement constraints 

 Engineering 

 Socioeconomic 

 Biological 



Construction materials 



Expected life span 



Unaltered and altered 



environmental conditions 



Environmental impact 



methodology 



Summary of physical and 



biological impacts 



Construction effects 

 Chronic effects 

 Cumulative effects 



Structural and nonstructural 



alternatives 



Regional considerations 



Types of 

 the study are 



structures included in 



o Breakwaters 



o Jetties 



o Groins 



o Bulkheads 



o Revetments 



o Ramps 



o Piers, pilings, and other support 



structures 



o Buoys and floating platforms 



o Harbors for small craft 



o Bridges and causeways 



The eight 

 for this study 

 (Figure 1) 



Coastal R egio n 



1. North Pacific 



coastal regions selected 

 are defined as follows 



Geographical 

 Boundarie s 

 Puget Sound to 

 Monterey Bay 



