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Integration of ecological aspects in coastal engineering projects
Marine Pollution Bulletin
seawater The section which describes counting, media and preservatives is poorly presented and seems to have been added as an afterthought to the main text This manual will be welcomed by all concerned with the analysis of seawater and especially by biologists who may be more concerned with obtaming data of high precision rather than accuracy This is the sort of book that you have on the workbench and hence is likely soon to b e c o m e splattered with stains, therefore why publish a hard-backed e d m o n at more than twice the price of the soft-backed version which is well bound 9
E I HAMILTON
Coastal Engineering Ecology lntegrauon of Ecologwal Aspects tn Coastal Engmeenng Projects B A. Banmnk (ed) (Volume 16 Numbers 1/2 and 3/4 of WaterScwnce & Technology) Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1984 Price £ 8 8 0 0 , USS160.00 ISBN 0 08 031036 2 These two volumes are the edited proceedings of a meeting held in November 1983 in Rotterdam under the auspices of the Dutch Public Works Department and cosponsored by UNESCO, IAWPRC, IAHR, NSC and KIVI The editor and Pergamon Press are to be congratulated on the speedy production of these Proceedings The Conference was on a large scale with 68 papers and over 600 delegates which demonstrated the international concern over this topic The choice of coastal ecosystems was particularly apt since they contam many of the most diverse and productive commumtles and are at the same time areas which are specially prone to development The coverage of topics was understandably biased towards Dutch coastal engineering operations, which covered approximately one-third of the total But the remaining papers give a wide variety of experience from many parts of the world--mainly North America, E u r o p e and the Far East The notable gaps are papers dealing with developments in Africa, Middle East and South America It would be interesting to know if the
420
geographical dlstnbution of papers is a reflection of the levels of englneenng activity or whether it reflects the level of ecological concern The spread of papers covers a wide variety of backgrounds including engmeers, biologists, planners and chemists This results in an interesting diversity in approaches, both practical and theoretical It is unusual and refreshing to see a conference of this type that is not donunated by academics This meeting represents a departure from other IAWPRC Conferences since it is not linuted to consideratlon of water quality and many of the papers deal with terrestrial rather than aquatic topics It therefore provides a fascinating insight Into the state-of-the-art in environmental impact assessment (EIA) Practitioners of EIA have made some attempts to develop it from organized c o m m o n sense into a science capable of quantitative predictions Judging from the papers, progress appears to be slow and only six out of the 68 papers Include any formal mathematical interpretation It is not yet clear whether or not a theoretical analytical framework is going to emerge One is therefore left with a feeling of disappointment The Proceedings will be of interest to engineers and scientists and decision-makers involved in coastal engineering projects, but the lessons that emerge are so site-specific that it is difficult to draw any general conclusions It is, however, a umque collection of expenence in combimng ecology and coastal engineering and will therefore be a useful work of reference The only papers of wider Interest are provided by Odum, both in his opening address and in his survey of the use of energy analysis The latter is the most thought-provoking contribution to the Conference The last 150 pages of Volume 2 contain the edited discussion from the Conference It is in some respects unfortunate that the discussion has been separated from the individual contributions But even more unfortunate IS the general level of the discussion which barely rises above the mundane It might have been wiser not to have included the discussion thereby reducing the price
A JAMES
seawater The section which describes counting, media and preservatives is poorly presented and seems to have been added as an afterthought to the main text This manual will be welcomed by all concerned with the analysis of seawater and especially by biologists who may be more concerned with obtaming data of high precision rather than accuracy This is the sort of book that you have on the workbench and hence is likely soon to b e c o m e splattered with stains, therefore why publish a hard-backed e d m o n at more than twice the price of the soft-backed version which is well bound 9
E I HAMILTON
Coastal Engineering Ecology lntegrauon of Ecologwal Aspects tn Coastal Engmeenng Projects B A. Banmnk (ed) (Volume 16 Numbers 1/2 and 3/4 of WaterScwnce & Technology) Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1984 Price £ 8 8 0 0 , USS160.00 ISBN 0 08 031036 2 These two volumes are the edited proceedings of a meeting held in November 1983 in Rotterdam under the auspices of the Dutch Public Works Department and cosponsored by UNESCO, IAWPRC, IAHR, NSC and KIVI The editor and Pergamon Press are to be congratulated on the speedy production of these Proceedings The Conference was on a large scale with 68 papers and over 600 delegates which demonstrated the international concern over this topic The choice of coastal ecosystems was particularly apt since they contam many of the most diverse and productive commumtles and are at the same time areas which are specially prone to development The coverage of topics was understandably biased towards Dutch coastal engineering operations, which covered approximately one-third of the total But the remaining papers give a wide variety of experience from many parts of the world--mainly North America, E u r o p e and the Far East The notable gaps are papers dealing with developments in Africa, Middle East and South America It would be interesting to know if the
420
geographical dlstnbution of papers is a reflection of the levels of englneenng activity or whether it reflects the level of ecological concern The spread of papers covers a wide variety of backgrounds including engmeers, biologists, planners and chemists This results in an interesting diversity in approaches, both practical and theoretical It is unusual and refreshing to see a conference of this type that is not donunated by academics This meeting represents a departure from other IAWPRC Conferences since it is not linuted to consideratlon of water quality and many of the papers deal with terrestrial rather than aquatic topics It therefore provides a fascinating insight Into the state-of-the-art in environmental impact assessment (EIA) Practitioners of EIA have made some attempts to develop it from organized c o m m o n sense into a science capable of quantitative predictions Judging from the papers, progress appears to be slow and only six out of the 68 papers Include any formal mathematical interpretation It is not yet clear whether or not a theoretical analytical framework is going to emerge One is therefore left with a feeling of disappointment The Proceedings will be of interest to engineers and scientists and decision-makers involved in coastal engineering projects, but the lessons that emerge are so site-specific that it is difficult to draw any general conclusions It is, however, a umque collection of expenence in combimng ecology and coastal engineering and will therefore be a useful work of reference The only papers of wider Interest are provided by Odum, both in his opening address and in his survey of the use of energy analysis The latter is the most thought-provoking contribution to the Conference The last 150 pages of Volume 2 contain the edited discussion from the Conference It is in some respects unfortunate that the discussion has been separated from the individual contributions But even more unfortunate IS the general level of the discussion which barely rises above the mundane It might have been wiser not to have included the discussion thereby reducing the price
A JAMES