Our marshlands need protection from more than oil spills. Boats and barges create a persistent wake that widens the channel. Hard and heavy erosion schemes redirect waves into softer regions. Expanding Gulf waters are changing habitat salinity. The economic and ecological damage of losing our natural storm barriers is beyond estimation.
Bayou Backer and Grastic Erosion Control Patent Number 7,824,133 are long strips of plastic inserted in the mud along shipping channels and other vulnerable shore line. Like artificial plants, these reduce wave energy and form a base for sediments, fish, oysters and grasses to anchor. The material is left in as a foundation and ultimately buried under newly accreted land. If problems arise, the plugs float, and can swept away with a trawler.
Acting as a buffer between boat and shore means a speed reduction along that margin. To drift slowly across a 10 to 20 foot wide swath of artificial sea grass does not keep anyone from reaching the shore. But, motoring within an installation could foul a prop and trawling nets won't be scooping sediments right up against eroding islands. With losses near 50 acres a day, an inexpensive, simple and effective 'fence line' is called for. A longer lasting bio-degradable plastic is also a possibility.
Joseph Lazaro