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Wenczel wins NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship
9:25 a.m., Aug. 3, 2006--Amanda Wenczel, a master's student in marine policy at the University of Delaware's College of Marine and Earth Studies, has received a Coastal Management Fellowship, sponsored by the Coastal Services Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Wenczel was one of six candidates nationwide to receive the two-year fellowship. The Coastal Management Fellowship was established in 1996 to provide on-the-job education and training opportunities in coastal resource management and policy for postgraduate students. In addition, the fellowship assists various states in their coastal zone management programs. Wenczel, who begins her fellowship on Aug. 7, was assigned to the Ohio Office of Coastal Management to develop an erosion management plan for the Lake Erie shoreline. She will study data that has been gathered from existing shore erosion plans, identify gaps in the information, and incorporate her findings into a plan that will better protect the shoreline area. “This work is very important because the residents have been using different methods to protect their property from eroding,” Wenczel said. “Unfortunately, what is best for a sandy coastline may be different for a rocky coastline. As a result, management officials have reached the point where they need to review what's going on in the area and determine what methods are most appropriate for each type of shoreline.” In addition, most of the Lake Erie shoreline is privately owned. As more people move into the area, the “segmented nature” of the erosion-control measures increases because property owners put their own individual measures into place. These, in turn, may cause higher levels of erosion or deposition in nearby areas. This is in contrast to the Delaware coastline, where the same erosion-control measures tend to be used throughout the entire region. At the College of Marine and Earth Studies, Wenczel analyzed the cost of various options that could be used to filter excess nutrients, such as phosphates and nitrates, from the water of the Chesapeake Bay. Excess nutrients are washed into the bay from upland sources and encourage the unhealthy growth of tiny marine algae that can form dense mats on the water surface or on the bay bottom. These dense mats can block the sunlight needed by underwater plants called bay grasses or submerged aquatic vegetation. These plants provide food, shelter, and nursery areas for fish, blue crabs and other marine organisms. In addition, when these large growths of algae die, they settle to the bottom and are consumed by bacteria--a process that uses large amounts of oxygen needed by other marine life. “It may be less expensive to reduce nutrient input into the bay by increasing the oyster population than by using another method such as a wastewater treatment plant,” Wenczel said. “If this is the case, then this would decrease the cost to the state with a corresponding decrease to taxpayers.” Wenczel notes that there also are a number of secondary benefits of adding oysters to the bay. This policy would tend to improve the overall quality of the bay, which would likely increase the populations of marine life such as fish, other benthic organisms and submerged aquatic vegetation. Her research involved working in the fields of economics, marine biology and ecology. She also analyzed management issues that dealt with the political feasibility of different proposed projects, uncertainty in science and communicating economic issues to resource managers. It was just this combination of experience and interests that made her adviser, George Parsons, professor of marine policy and economics and director of the Marine Policy Program, state that “Amanda was an unusually good fit for the Coastal Management Fellowship. All of her goals and aspirations revolve around coastal matters, whether they are policy- or science-related.” Upon completion of her fellowship, Wenczel said she plans to continue working in the coastal zone on projects that involve and can be addressed by a state agency. She said that this is one reason, in particular, why this fellowship is an ideal fit for her. “It's really where my interest in policy is--when you have both the science and the policy regulations coming together,” Wenczel said. “Working at the state level involves more of the social and community aspect, and you have to consider and work with the local community and their perceptions about the particular issues at stake. “I believe that I can be more hands-on with the projects I'm working on at the state level,” she said. “You can delve deeper into the issues you are dealing with, whether it's biological or geological such as what is happening in Lake Erie with the shoreline erosion.” Wenczel is originally from Hamilton, N.J. She earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Smith College in Northampton, Mass., in May 2004. Article by Kari Gulbrandsen |
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