BENTHIC COMMUNITY RESPONSE 



TO DREDGING BORROW PITS, 



PANAMA CITY BEACH, FLORIDA 



by 

 Carl H. Saloman, Steven P. Naughton, 

 and 

 John L. Taylor 



I. INTRODUCTION 



1 . Background . 



On the gulf coast of northwestern Florida, at Panama City Beach, major 

 environmental alterations over the past 10 years have provided an exceptional 

 opportunity to determine the degree and duration of these alterations 

 associated with the practice of dredging and beach nourishment. Historically, 

 these events have included the development of several engineering plans, the 

 intervention of a major hurricane, an emergency dredging and beach restoration 

 program, and several ecological studies related to disturbances caused by both 

 the hurricane and the dredging. 



In 1970, the Senate Committee on Public Works acknowledged an urgent need 

 for beach erosion control and hurricane protection at Panama City Beach. This 

 critical situation was referred to the U.S. Army Engineer District, Mobile, 

 for study. In 1975, the Mobile District completed a feasibility report that 

 contained recommendations for beach nourishment and maintenance along 29.8 

 kilometers of shoreline from the entrance to St. Andrew Bay, west to Philips 

 Inlet (Wilson, 1975). During preparation of the report, the U.S. Army Coastal 

 Engineering Research Center (CERC) sponsored a research program to determine 

 ecological changes that could be expected from the dredging and coastal 

 construction work. This investigation, which was conducted by the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) between November 1974 and October 1975, 

 involved the study of hydrology, sediments, and benthic fauna at two offshore 

 stations, and at five stations on each of nine nearshore transects. Emphasis 

 was placed on diversity,- abundance, and distribution of bottom-dwelling 

 invertebrates which are directly affected by dredging and redistribution of 

 sediments (Saloman, 1976). 



Before this investigation was completed. Hurricane Eloise struck Panama 

 City Beach (25 September 1975). Winds up to 185 kilometers per hour and seas 

 estimated at 9 meters caused severe erosion and extensive property damage 

 (Saloman, 1976; Salsman and Ciesluk, 1978). In winter months that followed, 

 high wind and waves associated with periodic cold fronts caused further shore- 

 line erosion. 



