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International Journal of Marine Science 2014, Vol.4, No.37, 1-12
http://ijms.biopublisher.ca
1
Research Article Open Access
Integrated Coastal Management Program in the coastal village of Playa
Florida and surrounding areas, Camagüey, Cuba
JoséMiguel Plasencia Fraga
1,
, Daimy Godínez Caraballo
2
, Isis Hernández Sosa
1
, Zoe Griselda Acosta Gutiérrez
1
,
Doraeugenia Francis Archer
1
1. Centro de Investigaciones de Medio Ambiente de Camagüey. Cisneros 105 altos e/Ángel y Pobre, Camagüey 1, Cuba
2. Centro de Ingeniería Ambiental de Camagüey. Avenida Finlay, Reparto Puerto Príncipe, Camagüey, Cuba
Corresponding author email
International Journal of Marine Science, 2014, Vol.4, No.37 doi: 10.5376/ijms.2014.04.0037
Received: 14 May, 2014
Accepted: 19 Jul., 2014
Published: 25 Jul., 2014
Copyright
©
2014 Plasencia et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Plasencia et al., 2014, Integrated Coastal Management Program in the coastal village of Playa Florida and surrounding areas, Camagüey, Cuba, International
Journal of Marine Science, Vol.4, No.37 1-12 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2014.04.0037)
Abstract
Florida Beach is a coastal village located on the southwest of the province of Camagüey, Cuba. The main environmental
problems of this area are the death of mangroves due to the construction of a road to provide access to the community, and the retreat
of the coastal line due to the effect of wall causing by the buildings next to it. The proposed Integrated Coastal Management Program
that would solve or mitigate environmental problems was developed in an integrated manner. The general objective of the program is:
Harmonizing uses of the wetland associated with the coastal community of Playa Florida and surrounding areas, which is part of the
National Strategy for Sustainable Conservation and Use of Biodiversity, as a means of achieving an environmentally sustainable
development of the community. We focused on: (1) Reduce conflicts of interest between the main economic activities in the area
(fisheries and recreation) and the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources; (2) Improve the environmental conditions of
the area with the gradual solution of environmental problems; (3) Improve the quality of life of the community with the
diversification of the uses of the wetland; and (4) Strengthen the financial sustainability of the actions of the Integrated Coastal
Management.
Keywords
Integrated Coastal Management; Coastal Community; Sustainable Management; Camagüey; Cuba
1 Introduction
Playa Florida is a coastal village located to the
southwest of the town of Florida, Province of
Camaguey, Cuba. Is it set in a sandy bar at the end of
the river basin Mala Fama and it is part of a wetland
classified as intertidal estuarine with areas of
freshwater, brackish and salt water, intertidal forests
and mangroves according to the classification of
wetlands wetland IUCN and Ramsar. Although it is
not protected area in terms of this international
organization, it is considered a protected area
according to the Law 212 known as the "Low of
Coast", which states in Article 4, subsection d:
..... "Shallow Coast of mangrove; area comprising
extensions associated with mangrove swamps,
estuaries, coastal lagoons, and in general, the lowlands
that are influenced by the flow of tides, waves or
filtration of seawater. Its inland boundary is given by
the maximum penetration of the mangrove forest: If it
appears marsh vegetation, the limit shall be fixed by
the outer edge of the forest landward. And the
protection area of the coastal zone will be established
in a minimum width of 40 meters, measured from the
inland boundary of the coastal zone”.
The road to Playa Florida was built in 1933 without
water passages or culverts, affecting the hydrological
flow in the mangrove area to cut the flow of water
from the river Mala Fama overflow during floods in
the rainy season and the ebb and flow cause of the
tides (Yumar, 1998, private communication). In 1957,
this road was improved and its level increased, finally
cutting off all possibility of water passing from one
area to another.
The infrastructure of the community was about 40
wooden houses and rustic pier in the late 50s of the
last century. In 1964, the fishing company was built
and in the 80s, some facilities for residents as well as