EVALUATION OF EXISTING DATA 



INFORMATION OBTAINED 



555 references were obtained that 

 were considered potentially applicable to 

 the objectives of the study. Numerous 

 additional articles were uncovered, but 

 not obtained because they were not ap- 

 plicable. The 555 articles were consid- 

 ered as potentially applicable, based on 

 their title or on recommendations con- 

 tained in the questionnaires or acquired 

 during interviews. These articles were 

 read and abstracted, and data sheets 

 prepared where appropriate. An article 

 was assigned a rating only if it was di- 

 rectly applicable to the present study. 

 About 405 of the articles that were read 

 were considered directly applicable. 

 The remaining 150 articles contained in- 

 formation that was related, but not di- 

 rectly applicable to the study. 



Figure 60 contains histograms of 

 the number of references obtained by 

 structure, category, and rating. It is 

 emphasized that the rating was for use- 

 fulness to the present study and not 

 scientific excellence or validity. Infor- 

 mation of questionable validity is of 

 questionable usefulness, but information 

 of high veracity may also be of limited 

 usefulness. 



Buoys and floating platforms 

 Piers, pilings, and other sup- 

 port structures 



Based on this classification and the 

 histograms in Figure 60, bridges and 

 causeways, and the small boat harbors 

 would appear to have received a small 

 amount of study in light of their poten- 

 tial impacts. It should be noted, how- 

 ever, that the data base contains much 

 information that is not impact assess- 

 ment oriented, but directed at engineer- 

 ing constraints. 



Figure 61 contains the number of 

 references obtained by structure type 

 and coastal region. The general cate- 

 gory is for articles that were not spec- 

 ific for one coastal region. Much of the 

 acquired information was not region 

 specific. In many cases the histograms 

 reflect structure prevalence and history 

 of associated difficulties within that re- 

 gion. Examples would be jetties in the 

 North Pacific (Coastal Region 1) and 

 bridges and causeways in South Florida 

 (Coastal Region 4). This is not always 

 the case, however, as is exemplified by 

 the small boat harbors in South Florida 

 (Coastal Region 4). 



The consensus of personnel who 

 worked on this study was that struc- 

 tures could be classified as having the 

 high, moderate, or low potential for 

 environmental impact as follows: 



High impact potential 



Small boat harbors 

 Bridges and causeways 

 B ulk heads 

 Breakwaters 

 Jetties 



Moderate impact potential 



Revetments 

 G roins 

 Ramps 



Low impact potential 



137 



