Shem Creek - A seafood-lover's paradise!

Charleston, SC is an example of a coastal urban area where impacts from historic development activities have led to the degradation of shoreline and estuarine habitats.

Fortunately, many of these areas, important for commercial and recreational fish species and aesthetic and recreational value, can be restored to provide their former benefits. The restoration projects demonstrate methods of stabilizing eroding shorelines, revitalizing a degraded salt marsh, and increasing fisheries habitat – all in recreational areas with high value to the public.

The $750,000 Charleston Shoreline Restoration project is creating or restoring Charleston area estuarine marshes, including nearly 200 acres of degraded salt marsh by stabilizing shorelines and increasing tidal exchange.

Charleston gets NOAA mention for Earth Day 2010

Elected and municipal officials along with other community, nonprofit and business leaders from the Charleston region will discuss issues involving shoreline change management at the Charleston Community Leaders’ Forum on Shoreline Change July 13 at the Charleston County Public Services Building, DHEC reported.

Topics will include implications of chronic erosion, gradual sea level rise, increased shoreline development and comprehensive beachfront management planning. A public comment period began 5:30 p.m. yesterday.

Organized by DHEC in 2007, the Shoreline Change Advisory Committee is an advisory committee of a broad cross-section of stakeholders including scientists, coastal managers, municipal officials, developers, conservationists and legal professionals. The committee’s purpose is to organize existing shoreline research, identify research priority needs and consider policy-related issues concerning management of South Carolina’s estuarine and beachfront shorelines. A report of the committee’s findings is planned for late 2009.

The Charleston Community Leaders’ Forum on Shoreline Change is organized by DHEC’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management in partnership with S. C. Sea Grant Consortium, the College of Charleston and the City of Folly Beach.

For more information on the Shoreline Change Advisory Committee visit http://www.scdhec.gov/environment/ocrm/science/shoreline_comm.htm