THE FORTALEZA (NE BRAZIL) WATERFRONT - PORT VERSUS COASTAL MANAGEMENT

The coastal conflicts originated by the succesive implementations of a harbour along the Fortaleza coast (NE Brazil) during the last century are illustrated in this paper. Because all the designed layouts and t he different locations selected for the harbour were done without cons idering the local coastal dynamics, the use itself was affected (port shoaling) and the system was rapidly degraded (coastal erosion). Since the economical benefits generated with the port was a priority for pl anners, solutions were mainly designed to optimize port exploitation w ithout paying attention to the coastal response. The interest in mitig ating the resource degradation appeared with the occurrence of extensi ve coastal damages and the nearly full disappearance of the beach in s ome stretches. Moreover, the appearance of a new coastal use, i.e. tou rism, with a potential economic importance higher than the previous on e, i.e, port, has originated a growing awareness in coastal zone manag ement in the Fortaleza's ''coastal'' way of thinking.