Bachelor's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

The lower Trinity River in Texas flows 180 river kilometers from Livingston Dam to Trinity Bay. Like many sandy coastal rivers the lower Trinity is geomorphically active. Within this 180-km reach, the river exhibits three styles of channel geometry and kinematic behavior that have been characterized using aerial photographs spanning the past 60 years, as well as bathymetric surveys and field work completed over the past 5 years. The three channel zones are connected to spatial change in properties of the sediment transport field. The upstream zone is defined by channel-bed incision, relatively small and coarse-grained bars, and relatively low rates of lateral channel migration. These properties of the upstream zone are connected to the discharge of water with effectively no bed-material load from Livingston Dam. Eventually the channel flow scours enough sediment from the channel bed and sidewalls to reestablish the predicted transport capacity for sand in the river, marking the transition to the central zone. This zone is defined by the largest bars and channel bends with the highest rates of lateral migration that persist downstream until the transport of sand and gravel is influenced by the backwater hydraulics connected with the shoreline at Trinity Bay. This downstream river zone is characterized by very small point bars, the deepest flows at most discharges, and lower rates of channel migration. Studying the connections and transitions between these three river zones leads to a more complete understanding of the coevolution of river geometry and profile, channel kinematics, and downstream change in sediment transport in the coastal zone. / text

Transformations of the various agricultural systems have been taking place in the coastal zone of Bangladesh. While some farmers continue to follow traditional practices, in recent years, others have become involved in massive shrimp cultivation, shrimp-rice cultivation, a rice-based improved agricultural system or a shrimp-rice-vegetable integrated system. All these types of agriculture are being practiced under highly vulnerable environmental conditions. The long-term livelihood, food security and adaptation of the coastal people largely depend on the sustainability of these agricultural practices. In this context, assessing the level of sustainability is extremely important and will be essential for developing future policy options in Bangladesh. This study attempts to examine the sustainability of agricultural practices in the coastal region of Bangladesh. A field study was carried out in 2011 in five villages of five upazilas in the mature and active delta areas of the country. The data were collected through in-depth questionnaire surveys, focus groups discussions, field observation, key informants and secondary materials. A comprehensive suite of indicators was developed considering productivity, efficiency, stability, durability, compatibility and equity of the coastal agriculture. The categories and the indicators were weighted using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) to measure the sustainability level of five study sites. The integrated agricultural system (shrimp-rice-vegetable) of Dumuria appeared to be the most sustainable system among agricultural practices, and other integrated systems (rice-based improved agricultural system) of Kalaroa were also found to show a good level of sustainability. The massive shrimp cultivation system of Shyamnagar and Kaliganj appears to be least sustainable. A traditional agriculture system with some improved methods followed in Bhola Sadar also performed in a satisfactory manner, but there were limitations in terms of its location in the active delta. The level of the sustainability measured in this study allows for a comparison among agricultural practices of the five study sites. The information generated from the study may be used in formulating policies for this part of the country. Measuring agricultural sustainability in this way produces a useful summary of sustainability issues and also provides some vital learning experiences. A holistic and interdisciplinary approach is attempted in this study for assessing and comparing the sustainability level of coastal agricultural systems. It has the potential to become useful as one of the frameworks for sustainability assessment. / Thesis (Master, Environmental Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-09-28 15:08:18.847

The coast of Bangladesh, comprising the complex delta of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river system has immense resources for development. In the concept of present development efforts, this zone is among the most neglected in Bangladesh. It is very often affected by natural calamities and the situation is further aggravated by some man-made hazards, which cause heavy casualties in human lives, cattle, in reducing the size of the coastal areas and in severe damage of properties worth billions of dollars. This thesis envisages looking into the particular issue of non-farm employment. This is more important in an economy in which the land-person ratio is continuously on the decrease and dissemination of intensive crop culture has limitations. This study is exploratory in nature and uses both quantitative and qualitative methods, employing survey interviews for 80 households, 20 key informant interviews and a case study on an organization in order to assess the dynamics and prospects of non-farm employment in the coastal regions of Bangladesh. Findings of the study indicate that practically all of the non-farm field of the entire coastal belt is not yet a government priority. As such, there is need for some persuasive work in formulating some policies to develop sustainable harvests from the abundant maritime resources of the area. This will create provision for non-farm employment as well as producing a vast quantity of exportable commodities for the national well-being. It is expected that it will benefit the people of the area in particular and the entire country in general.

The continuous monitoring of beaches and structures near, or in the surf-zone, has become a vital task from an environmental and economic standpoint. Specifically, the Durban beaches are continually nourished with sand that is dredged south of the Durban Harbour mouth. Constant monitoring is essential to control the erosion and accretion of these beaches. Currently, infrequent and labour-intensive manual surveys are being used to fulfil this task. This dissertation describes the techniques used to process and validate surf-zone video images to extract information, which is equivalent but more frequent and cost effective to that obtained using manual surveying methods. The emphasis is on the extraction of accurate hourly waterlines by analysing video images obtained from Coastal Imaging stations located at Addington Beach and North Beach in Durban, South Africa and the measurement of rip currents in the surf-zone from video images together with the validation of these results. The implementation of a neural network incorporating non-local image pixel data is more reliable than previously used methods, for example, grayscale thresholding or the delta-discriminator. Grayscale thresholding relies on the difference between the water and the sand pixel intensities. The delta-discriminator incorporates hue-saturation-lightness (HSL) values to improve the discrimination between water and sand. These methods could not, however, overcome the problem of varying seasonal and diurnal light intensities and require the prior choice of threshold values. The use of non-local data, such as the average RGB-values, in addition to individual pixel values as inputs to a neural network is shown to give better results in changing ambient lighting conditions. Wavelet and Fourier analysis of the temporal nature of the breaking waves in the surf-zone is also used to calculate more accurate waterlines. These extracted waterlines are validated by data collected from manual surveys. The use of Digital Correlation Image Velocimetry (DCIV) has been proven as a successful method in tracing velocity flow fields in a fluid medium. Typically, the medium is populated with distinct seeds that are tracked through successive video frames using a cross-correlation technique. It is shown that DCIV can be used in surf-zone images to measure surface rip currents by tracking the structure of the advected foam. This technique was validated by simultaneously tracking a large number of yellow corks scattered on the water surface. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

No description available.

Following on recent interests in social sciences for the development of aquaculture and the alternative management of fisheries, this study shows how the analysis of social and knowledge relations among State-managers, fisheries scientists and local producers helps to better understand the issues at stake in the development and management of coastal resources, and therefore to better identify if a specific cultural setting is suited or not, under its current conditions, for the implementation of a shared management of resources between the State and local organizations. An examination of the recent evolution of the Mexican fisheries sector indicates that the political economic transformations that have characterized the country over the past twenty years have not only affected rural communities in a very profound way, but have also stimulated a rapid growth of shrimp farming activities in coastal areas, and more particularly on the North coast of the state of Nayarit. However, this expansion of shrimp aquaculture has generated many conflicts over the use of and access to natural resources. A closer look at this situation reveals that it is associated with power relationships among all the social actors involved, and intimately related to political interests extending well beyond the local level. The analysis of this case study also demonstrates that conflicting dynamics are fostered by unequal knowledge relations among all the actors involved. In such a context, a complete redefinition of the relationships among State-managers, fisheries scientists and local producers is required for the implementation of any co-management initiative, and anthropologists can contribute to increased visibility of local producers within the decision-making process and fisheries science.

Rights to possess and/or use the foreshore of New Zealand are not clear, and are even cloudier in relation to Maori freehold land that is on the coast. This thesis investigates the law pertaining to rights in the foreshore, and the facts pertaining specifically to the use of the Otakou Maori Reserve foreshore. In particular, the research question is this: what does aboriginal title mean in 1996 for Otago Maori? Examining the legal issues, searching individual titles and gathering oral history are the methods used to answer this question. First, the law. In New Zealand the Crown is prima facie the absolute owner of the foreshore. This can be displaced by proof to the contrary. The doctrine of aboriginal title recognises the legal continuity of tribal property rights upon the Crown�s acquisition of sovereignty over their territory. Aboriginal title can be divided into two categories - territorial and non-territorial. Territorial title represents a tribal claim to full ownership, and non-territorial title to rights that are less than absolute ownership, such as the right to cross land, to fish and to collect flora and fauna. It is this doctrine of aboriginal title as it relates to the foreshore that can displace the Crown�s absolute ownership of the foreshore. Second, the facts. 99% of the coastal land parcels of Otakou Maori Reserve are described in written documentation as to the line of mean high water. This 99% is made up 17% Maori freehold land, 49% general land and 33% vested in the Crown or the Dunedin City Council. The remaining 1% is Maori freehold land that does not have its boundary at mean high water, but has a fixed upland boundary. Oral history facts from the takatawhenua identify that the foreshore continues to be used for access, travel, and the collection of kai moana and sea resources. The findings reveal that Kai Tahu ki Otakou have never extinguised their territorial and non-territorial aboriginal title to the foreshore of Otakou Maori Reserve. Suggested areas for future research include an investigation of other Maori reserves in Otago, and examining the doctrine of aboriginal title as it relates to the beds of watercourses.

Thesis (M. Plan.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Architecture, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-125).

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.