lff^CLAg?IFIEP 



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The dredged material had a high proportion of fine material with lesser 

 amounts of shell fragments. Fine sediments were rapidly transported offshore 

 while shells persisted on the beach. Measured beach effects were short term 

 (5 weeks or less) involving increases in abundance mostly of motile crustacean 

 species which brood their young. Planktonic recruitment of polychaetes was 

 evident during this period. 



As the fine sediments worked offshore, silt and fine sand fractions in- 

 creased in the bottom sediments. At subtidal depths, there was a positive 

 correlation between the silt-clay fraction and number of species and abundance. 

 Overall abundance and diversity of the benthos were not adversely affected by 

 beach replenishment. In response to an unpredictable, changing environment 

 (erosion-deposition), most of the resident biota are short-lived, opportun- 

 istic species which are typically patchy in distribution both temporally and 

 spatially. Possible longer term effects upon longer lived species, such as 

 sand dollar populations, were not determined. 



UNCLASSIFIED 



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