Coastal Zone Canada 2010 Conference submission

Finding common ground on a term to facilitate

improved management in a large diverse area of
the earth’s surface: the coastalshed
Michael J.A. Butlera, Paul R. Boudreaub and Claudette LeBlancb

a
International Ocean Institute 1226 LeMarchant Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3P7,
Canada

b
Atlantic Coastal Zone Information Steering Committee, 1226 LeMarchant Street,
Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3P7, Canada

Abstract
Since the publication of the Brundtland report [1] in 1987 managers, scientists and
citizens have struggled to effectively describe and communicate about the geographic
area of interest for integrated coastal and ocean management (ICOM). In the 1987 report,
under the section “Oceans: the balance of life”, it states: “Five zones bear on this
management: inland areas, which affect the oceans mostly via rivers; coastal lands -
swamps, marshes, and so on - close to the sea, where human activities can directly affect
the adjacent waters; coastal waters - estuaries, lagoons, and shallow waters generally -
where the effects of land-based activities are dominant; offshore waters, out roughly to
the edge of the continental shelf; and the high seas, largely beyond the 200-mile EEZs of
coastal states' control.” We deal here with the first four of the five zones.

Since this report, numerous terms refer to these four zones such as “coastal and ocean”,
“coastal zone”, etc.. None properly capture the necessary linkages among the land,
freshwater, estuarine and marine ecosystems.

To address this challenge, we propose a new word “coastalshed” to simply express the
area of the globe that is comprised of the ocean area under the jurisdiction of a national
government, the adjacent coastal and estuarine area as well as the land and freshwater in

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Coastal Zone Canada 2010 Conference submission

the subwatersheds adjacent and feeding into this marine area. Essentially we wish to
extend the concept of “watershed” from the freshwater, downstream through the estuaries
and out into the open ocean. The purpose is to clearly delineate a geographic area that
requires integrated and collaborative management.

As a demonstrative example, we apply this model to Canada as a means of presenting

some of the advantages and disadvantages of the introduction of a new term into an
already difficult lexicon.