|
May 29, 2002
RECREATIONAL BOATING MARINA SURVEY BEING CONDUCTED
BUFFALO, NEW YORK - On May 28, members of the Human
Dimensions Research Unit at Cornell University began to survey
marinas on the U.S. side of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence
River to identify:
(a) the range of water levels at which each marina can operate
without incurring economic losses,
(b) high and low water level fluctuations beyond which marina
owners begin to incur economic losses or costs, and
(c) estimates of these costs as water levels rise or fall
further from the point at which initial losses occur.
As part of the survey, Cornell University student and staff
researchers will be taking water depth measurements from slips
and docks at each marina, and interviewing the owner or manager
at each marina. Data from the marina survey will be combined
with data from a second survey of boaters using these waters,
to be conducted starting in September, to produce overall
estimates of losses to marinas, losses in boating opportunities,
and losses in tourism-related revenues to local communities
due to excessive high and low water levels. A similar survey
was conducted last summer at marinas on the Canadian side
of these waters.
The work will continue through the summer as part of the
International Joint Commission sponsored five-year Lake Ontario
- St. Lawrence River Study. The study began in December 2000
to evaluate the impacts of changing water levels on commercial
navigation; environmental quality; flood damages; hydroelectric
power generation; recreational boating and tourism; shore
erosion; and municipal and industrial water use.
|
