Florida claims the second longest coastline of the mainland United States, providing an array of coastal opportunities to visitors and residents alike from commercial and recreational fishing to just-plain-living in the Sunshine State.
While tourism and agriculture hold top billing in Florida’s economy, the development, conservation, and protection of Florida’s natural resources play increasingly greater roles. The human use of land, rock, and oil and gas resources – amidst an ever-expanding population and the need to protect environmental resources for habitat – present complex challenges in public policy and regulatory settings.
Adaptation is the key to resilience that allows communities to cope with and change in the face of disaster and other economic and environmental circumstances. Lampl Herbert Consultants works with coastal local, state, and federal governments, and non-profits to attend to current issues and future needs.
LHC’s coastal experience began with the receipt of a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project. Our team built ”a better lobster trap” based on research of the habits of slipper lobsters (Scyllarides nodifer), a clawless lobster generally retrieved as bycatch in shrimp nets. Likewise, the LHC Team looked into the history of Florida’s “local fishery laws” to document the presence or absence of biological evidence for regulation. The paper supported the use of science in public policy.
LHC continues its work at the coast, conducting research to identify options for publicly owned seafood landing areas parks and an off-water seafood industrial park developing best practices for waterfront communities. The LHC team worked with Taylor County, Florida, Board of County Commissioners to increase mobility and access to public upland and coastal resources in the Florida Big Bend.
