COASTLINE 07-1 Coastal management in Germany - EUCC

Alien species
The spreading of invasive plant
species into coastal dune vegetation
poses a serious conservation problem.
Invasive plant species in dunes 1
Dune vegetation is often species-rich with many rare species,
but is very vulnerable e.g. the encroachment of shrubs like
Hippophaë rhamnoides and especially Rosa rugosa as well as
the spreading of mosses like Campylopus introflexus has considerable
effects on species richness and diversity.These large,
dominant, species-poor vegetation types, with a simple vegetation
structure, have a low conservation value reducing both species
and landscape diversity.
Experts based information systems NeoFlora (www.floraweb.
de/neoflora/) and Nobanis (www.nobanis.org/) present a description
of the most invasive plant species and includes infor-
Flowers and fruit of Rosa rugosa
(Photos: René van Rossum and Maike Isermann)
mation, about introduction, ecological effects as well as possible
conter-measures. NeoFlora also includes a public internet forum
to exchange experiences.
1 Maike Isermann, University of Bremen, Vegetation Ecology and
Conservation Biology: contact: iserm@uni-bremen.de.
See www.vegetation.uni-bremen.de/isermann_e.html.
Oil and chemical contamination
The German coast has to contend with dense shipping traffic
which calls for effective contingency measures to respond to
oil and chemical incidents.
Oil on the beach - what to do? 2
Together with the environmental ministries of the coastal states
and the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing,
ARCADIS has developed a computer aided contingency planning
system.
The system includes the contingency plan concept with the alerting
procedures - previously existing on paper - and all relevant
data along the 4,600 km long coastline. Data on organisations
and persons with the contact data, photos of the entire coastline,
a database of existing oil recovery equipment including data
on ships, combating teams and flight patterns, a combating
manual, a pollution incident report and logbook are only a few
examples of the available information. The GIS data shows the
user, on a detailed map, the area of responsibility of the respective
authority; the storage sites for combating equipment like
protective clothing, shovels, pails; nature reserves; the type of
coast and its sensitivity to oil and chemicals; places for oil interim
storages; the onshore connections to the coast for heavy
combating equipment like lorries and excavators; the places of
engineering constructions and protection facilities like bridges,
dykes, sheet pile walls and tourist facilities. Information on the
water depth and the electronic navigation chart help the responsible
Command for Maritime Emergencies to plan the use of
vessels.
After a project time of several years in a close co-operation with
the responsible authorities the system has become the most
important tool to support the decisions of the Command
(www.vps-web.de).
2 Burkhard Schuldt & Katja Borgwardt, ARCADIS Consult GmbH:
contact b.schuldt@arcadis.de
A combating team cleans a polluted coast in France,
Erika-accident (Photo: J. Holtz)