Beaches are multifunctional socio-ecological systems that sustain ecosystem services, cultural identity, and major economic activities. The classical Five-Fold beach typology (Remote, Rural, Village, Urban, Resort) remains widely used but insufficient for the complexity of contemporary coastal environments. This paper proposes a refined, cluster-based typology that integrates ecological, socio-cultural, functional, and governance dimensions alongside traditional settlement criteria. Four functional clusters are defined: Tourism-Oriented (Resort, Urban High/Medium/Low Density, Artificial); Settlement-Oriented (Village, Rural, Remote, Fishing/Community); Conservation-Oriented (Protected-Open, Protected-Restricted); and Special-Use/Restricted (Industrial, Restricted, Mixed/Transitional). Each category is described through measurable attributes including density, accessibility, governance regime, and dominant function. The framework corrects major limitations of the FiveFold model by differentiating urban beaches, acknowledging artificial and industrial systems, incorporating conservation governance, and recognizing hybrid and restricted-use contexts. Comparative analysis demonstrates its applicability across diverse cultural and environmental settings, from megacity coasts to remote community beaches. Beyond conceptual innovation, typology provides an operational tool for Integrated Coastal Zone Management, Marine Spatial Planning, tourism regulation, and biodiversity conservation. It supports evidence-based monitoring and the development of policy indicators aligned with Sustainable Development Goals 11-15. The cluster-based typology advances coastal geography by translating multidisciplinary knowledge into a flexible, globally adaptable framework for contemporary beach management.

Have you ever seen big bags of sand stacked on a beach during storms? These are sandbags, used to protect buildings and roads from waves and floods. While they can be useful during emergencies, they can cause serious environmental problems if they are left behind. Most sandbags are made of plastic, and they can slowly break into small pieces that can harm animals, plants, and even people. Abandoned sandbags can change how sand naturally moves, kill plants, and make it hard for animals like sea turtles to live or nest. Also, the sand used to fill sandbags is often taken from the beach or dunes, which causes even more erosion. To protect our coasts and restore natural ecosystems, we must switch to biodegradable bags and remove sandbags after use. This article shows how a quick fix can turn into a long-term problem and why it important for everyone to help protect coastal environments.

The rapid growth of municipal solid waste and plastic production has led to the widespread accumulation of anthropogenic debris across terrestrial, coastal, and marine environments. While traditionally considered an environmental pollutant, large waste deposits increasingly behave as geomorphological materials capable of interacting with Earth surface processes. Here, we propose a conceptual framework that recognizes solid waste as a distinct Anthropocene geomaterial and introduces a hierarchical classification of waste-driven geomorphological processes. The framework integrates four interconnected levels: (i) transport-driven accumulation systems, including litter blooms, garbage patches, and windrows; (ii) anthropogenic depositional landforms such as plastic berms, debris ridges, and litter-generated dunes; (iii) mass-loading systems represented by landfill slopes and coastal waste piles; and (iv) gravitational processes, including waste slides, landfill slumps, debris flows, avalanches, and creep. These processes are linked through a waste geomorphological cascade. By extending classical geomorphological classifications to include anthropogenic materials, this study demonstrates that waste deposits can generate previously unrecognized forms of slope instability and sediment redistribution. Documented landfill disasters worldwide further demonstrate the hazard potential associated with these processes. The recognition of solid waste geomorphology as an emerging field provides a new perspective for understanding the role of anthropogenic materials in landscape evolution, hazard assessment, and environmental management. As waste continues to accumulate globally, its influence on geomorphological systems is expected to increase, requiring integrated and interdisciplinary approaches within Earth system science.

Coastal pollution policies have historically focused on regulated, industrial, and urban sources, neglecting a broad spectrum of unconventional drivers that include religious rituals, commemorative ceremonies, political advertising, displacement camps, informal beach commerce, water sports, and recreational activities, among others. These sources generate significant pollution yet remain unregulated due to their cultural sensitivity, irregularity, legal ambiguity, and institutional fragmentation. Drawing on a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature, grey literature, and documented global case studies, this paper presents an evidence-based typology of eight categories of unconventional coastal pollution sources and introduces a five-dimensional framework of invisibility (cultural, behavioral, situational, institutional, and perceptual) to explain their persistent exclusion from coastal and marine governance frameworks. These dimensions are not mutually exclusive but overlapping and additive, with the convergence of multiple invisibilities rendering certain sources most persistently unregulated. The study critically evaluates the limitations of current environmental tools, such as Environmental Impact Assessments, Marine Spatial Planning, and marine litter action plans, which are ill-equipped to address episodic, symbolic, or informal pollution. Available evidence indicates that the invisibility of these drivers compromises policy effectiveness, environmental justice, and progress toward international sustainability targets. The paper proposes pathways for integration, including adaptation of existing governance instruments, development of culturally responsive monitoring indicators, investment in environmental education, and empowerment of local authorities to regulate context-specific practices. The article calls for a shift toward inclusive, adaptive, and culturally intelligent governance approaches capable of addressing both visible and symbolically entrenched coastal pollution. This work bridging gaps between scientific understanding, cultural complexity, and institutional design, thereby advancing more comprehensive and equitable coastal management strategies.

Coastal plastic pollution is routinely quantified using abundance- and mass-based metrics. These metrics are effective for trend detection, regulatory reporting and international comparison, but by design they describe the magnitude of contamination rather than its internal organisation, its commercial attribution, or the functional behaviour of the items involved. Here we operationalise and internally validate the Taxonomy-Inspired Plastic Litter Indices (TIPLI), a modular set of diagnostic metrics intended to complement conventional monitoring. Twenty-seven indices spanning structural diversity, corporate attribution, functional traits, geo-environmental dynamics, hazard weighting and network organisation were computed for harmonised, item-level coastal litter datasets from six sites in Colombia, Morocco, Brazil, Italy, Panama and Spain (Canary Islands). Richness-based indices were strongly effort-dependent (Spearman rho with sample size 0.89-0.94) and estimated sample coverage was low at product level (0.005-0.698), so raw richness contrasts are not directly comparable among sites. The first ordination axis derived from the full index set was itself correlated with assemblage size (rho = -0.94, p = 0.005). After rarefaction to common effort, product richness converged to 19.2-22.0 products per 22 items, whereas abundance-weighted diversity retained a two-group separation. In contrast, corporate concentration, functional-trait, hazard and geo-environmental indices were insensitive to effort and were estimated without bias by non-parametric bootstrapping (coefficients of variation 1.1-32.4%). The descriptive configurations reported here are therefore presented as exploratory hypotheses rather than validated classes.

The use and disposal of end-of-life tires (ELTs) in coastal and marine environments has emerged as a form of pollution that is largely absent from existing regulatory frameworks. Originally engineered for strength, durability, and resistance to environmental stress, tires are increasingly repurposed in informal coastal infrastructure such as erosion control structures, ramps, walkways, and artificial reefs. However, these uses have resulted in significant negative environmental consequences, including chemical leaching, microplastic release, and tire wear particle release, physical habitat degradation, localized thermal stress, public health risks, among others. Despite these impacts, tires remain absent from most marine pollution frameworks and coastal adaptation strategies. This paper provides the first global review of ELT use in coastal contexts, presenting a typology of informal applications, analyzing their environmental consequences, and identifying the key motivations behind their continued deployment. The review highlights critical gaps in national regulations, a lack of coastal-specific prohibitions, and the lack of formal integration ELTs into marine litter action plans. Case studies from both developed and developing countries illustrate the widespread nature of this issue and its socioecological implications. A comprehensive management framework emphasizing regulatory bans, safer alternatives, inland recycling innovations, and targeted monitoring and remediation is presented. Emphasis is placed on the need for integrated governance, environmental justice, and alignment with global sustainability targets. Addressing the risks posed by end-of-life tires in coastal systems requires urgent attention, informed policymaking, and coordinated action across sectors to prevent further degradation of nearshore ecosystems and human well-being.

Shorelines are increasingly exposed to combined pressures of pollution, habitat degradation, and physical alteration, yet most diagnostic tools fail to capture their coupled dynamics. We present a new Combined Physical–Environmental Protocol that integrates indicators of morphodynamic integrity with contamination and disturbance metrics to evaluate shoreline health. The protocol was applied to 40 sites along the Colombian Caribbean coast, incorporating eight physical indicators and thirteen environmental indicators covering litter, sewage, chemical contamination, organic decay, waste dumping, and human disturbance. These were scored and integrated into an Overall Health Class (I–V) ranging from fully healthy to terminal condition. Results show that 42.5% of sites exhibit moderate pollution loads, with strong co-occurrence of severe physical alteration and chronic contamination in urban and resort areas. Remote and rural sites showed high physical integrity but latent vulnerability to pollution inputs. Multivariate analysis (PCA, HCA) revealed three distinct clusters: (i) severely polluted and physically degraded sites, (ii) pristine or mildly polluted high-integrity sites, and (iii) intermediate sites with moderate pollution and mixed morphodynamic status. The protocol’s integration of environmental quality and geomorphological processes provides a reproducible, transferable, and management-oriented tool for diagnosing shoreline health. Its categorical outputs support early warning, prioritization of restoration, and policy-relevant monitoring aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 14.2, 14.5, 15.1). By linking contamination indicators with physical resilience, this study advances a holistic framework for evidence-based shoreline governance and contributes to the global agenda on pollution reduction in coastal and marine environments.

Coastal sediments are sensitive recorders of environmental processes, yet interpretations based on granulometry alone capture only part of the information they preserve. This study presents the first regional-scale, multi-proxy characterization of beach sediments along the continental Caribbean coast of Colombia, integrating grain-size distribution, CIELAB colorimetry, and quantitative grain morphology for 59 sites distributed from the Guajira Peninsula (north) to the Gulf of Urabá (south). Granulometric analysis confirms a fine- to medium-sand, quartz-rich system shaped by persistent wave action, with localized coarse and gravelly enrichments in northern sectors. Colorimetric analysis shows that lightness (L*, 41.8–68.5) and chroma (C*, 1.4–25.4) behave as reproducible proxies for sediment maturity and oxidation: bright, saturated sediments correspond to well-washed, reworked sands, whereas dark, weakly saturated sediments reflect immature or locally sourced material. Grain morphology, quantified through Sobel-based angularity (0.027–0.109) and Powers roundness (2–5), reveals a strong inverse coupling (r ≈ −0.83) that records transport distance and mechanical abrasion. Sahu discriminant functions classify the system as dominantly beach and shallow-agitated-marine, with a subordinate fluvial signature in the north. Principal Component Analysis resolves a hierarchical structure dominated by an energy–maturity axis (PC1, ∼43% of variance), followed by depositional variability (PC2, ∼23%) and transport history (PC3, ∼13%). Hierarchical clustering groups the samples into four statistical clusters, while the integrated proxies define five process-based facies (HE-M, HE-TM, ME-TM, ME-IM, PROX). The mismatch between four clusters and five facies is itself informative: end-member conditions are sharply resolved, whereas transitional states grade continuously and are compressed by clustering. We therefore argue that coastal sediment variability is best represented as a continuum governed by hydrodynamic energy and sediment supply, rather than as discrete categories. The framework is reproducible, low-cost, and transferable to other high-energy, sediment-limited coasts, with direct applications to monitoring, nourishment-compatibility assessment, and erosion management.

Human presence and activity on beaches have led to significant environmental and landscape transformations. This study provides an island-scale case study demonstrating how beach color and sediment composition have influenced urban and tourism development while affecting shoreline stability. This research also examines medium-term shoreline change of eighteen selected beaches on Gran Canaria (Canary Islands, Spain), across a gradient of human influence, as a representative case for oceanic islands undergoing intense development pressure. Geographic information systems (GIS), historical and current orthophotos (1998–2024), and official inventories provided multi-source data to classify beach types according to their use and transformation degree, analyze the beach shoreline evolution with the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS), and finally unmask the true beach shoreline trend after identifying the interventions produced on them. Results reveal heterogeneity with three shoreline evolution trends: i) natural beaches exhibiting stable or progradational shorelines; ii) urban beaches displaying higher alteration rates and greater dependency on engineered sediment management; and iii) semi-urban beaches showing intermediate dynamics, influenced by both natural and anthropogenic processes. Critically, this evidence establishes an empirical foundation for developing differentiated coastal management strategies for beaches. These strategies should emphasize adaptive approaches that balance conservation objectives, climate change response, and coexistence with tourism and urban pressures.

Scenic quality is a recognized cultural ecosystem service, yet it rarely enters coastal conservation decisions in a structured way. This paper try to resolve two questions: how far does high scenic quality coincide with formal protection, and can scenic and typological attributes be organised into a transparent, falsifiable procedure for suggesting protection instruments? We compiled the largest available Coastal Scenic Evaluation System (CSES) dataset, 1709 sites in 44 countries, and isolated the 601 sites of Classes I and II. This is an opportunistic, non-probabilistic compilation, heavily concentrated in five countries (53% of sites), and we treat that as a first-order constraint on inference rather than as a caveat. Within the sample, 224 of the 601 sites (37.3%) carry no formal designation; Class I sites are protected at 72.3% and Class II at 49.8% (OR = 2.62, 95% CI 1.87–3.69). Protection rates are higher in Europe (78.8%) than elsewhere (49.7%), but a logistic model with country-clustered errors, together with the sampling structure, shows that this contrast is inseparable from where the dataset was collected; we therefore report it as a property of the sample and not as a global equity finding. We then specify a protection-assignment scaffold that maps scenic class, typology, anthropogenic pressure, geoform and tenure onto an ordinal protection-strength band, with explicit rules and conflict resolution, and we test it against a pre-specified failure criterion. It fails that test: concordance with existing designations (44.3% exact) does not exceed a trivial “always recommend the strictest band” baseline (47.2%), and agreement is at chance (κ = −0.005; adequacy rate 63.5% vs. permutation expectation 63.9%, p = 0.68). We interpret this not as a defect of the scaffold but as direct evidence for the paper's premise: existing coastal designations are not made on scenic or typological grounds, so concordance with them is the wrong benchmark and cannot validate any scenic-based tool. The scaffold is therefore presented as a normative, auditable decision-support device a hypothesis about how scenic evidence could enter designation, not as a validated predictor of it. Applied to a 92-site regional case in the Colombian Caribbean, where 77.2% of high-scenic sites are undesignated, it surfaces 32 candidates for strict instruments and 39 for landscape, buffer or other effective area-based measures, including sites that biodiversity-led prioritisation had not flagged. Scenic value emerges as a defensible complement to, never a substitute for, biodiversity-based criteria.

The global ocean receives an estimated 15 teragrams of plastic annually, yet less than 0.2% of this mass is detected floating at the surface. This imbalance, known as the "missing plastic paradox," indicates the presence of diverse plastic sinks, environments and processes that accumulate and retain plastic debris temporarily or permanently. This paper integrates geomorphological, ecological, and anthropogenic perspectives to develop a comprehensive classification of plastic sinks in coastal and marine environments. Four functional categories are identified: functionally permanent sinks (e.g., deep-sea sediments, mangrove peat) where burial and diagenetic conditions promote long-term sequestration potential under current low-energy depositional regimes; semi-permanent sinks (e.g., coral reefs, backshores, driftwood accumulations) that retain plastics through structural or biophysical trapping; transient sinks (e.g., garbage patches, litter windrows, the water column, estuaries) that act as short-lived reservoirs where net positive plastic storage (ΔS > 0) is maintained over hours to months; and anthropogenic sinks (e.g., coastal landfills, port basins, dumps) that function as engineered or accidental retention systems. Two short-term but critical mechanisms are emphasized: litter windrows, submesoscale convergence lines that concentrate floating plastics prior to deposition or sinking, and plastic litter blooms, extreme-runoff events that deliver rapid pulses of debris from land to coastal systems. These mechanisms show that plastic retention operates across natural and human domains and spans timescales from hours to centuries, shaping the fate of plastics in the ocean.

Plastics, originally developed as industrial materials, have become pervasive components of Earth's surface systems and are increasingly preserved within sediments worldwide. Here, we synthesize current evidence to conceptualize plastics as geological materials and to assess their significance as sedimentary and stratigraphic signatures of the Anthropocene. We show that plastics behave as sedimentary particles, undergoing transport, sorting, deposition, burial, and reworking alongside mineral and biogenic grains, while exhibiting distinct physical and chemical properties that influence their environmental fate. We present an integrated framework that situates plastics within a plastic-sediment continuum and defines a geological plastic cycle, tracing their pathway from industrial production to environmental dispersal, burial, and early diagenesis. Building on this framework, we propose a three-tier geological classification of plastic-derived materials based on genesis, lithoform, and depositional facies, encompassing hybrid deposits such as plastiglomerates, plasticrusts, pyroplastics, and plastic-enriched soils and strata. Plastics form persistent, datable, and globally distributed sedimentary components that co-occur with other mid-twentieth-century anthropogenic signals. Their productionlinked chronologies and context-dependent preservation support their consideration as complementary stratigraphic indicators of the Anthropocene, alongside other technogenic and geochemical markers.

Marine macrolitter accumulation on islands provides a sensitive indicator of regional transport processes and production-consumption dynamics. In this study, coastal macrolitter assemblages were assessed on Isla Arena, a small uninhabited island in the Colombian Caribbean, using an integrated analytical framework that combines standardized regulatory monitoring (Joint List of Litter Categories) with the Anthropocene Taxonomy of Plastic Litter (ATPL). A total of 830 macrolitter items were collected across 779 m2 during a single survey campaign, corresponding to a mean density of 1.07 items·m-2, comparable to values reported for inhabited island systems worldwide. Plastics dominated the assemblage (>95%), with food consumption-related items prevailing. Plastic beverage bottles alone accounted for nearly 80% of all recorded macrolitter, indicating strong functional simplification. Classification based on the Joint List effectively characterized material composition and dominant use patterns but provided limited resolution regarding producer diversity. Application of ATPL revealed heterogeneity at producer, brand, and product levels within standardized item categories; however, producer or geographic origin could be confidently assigned to only 28% of plastic items due to environmental degradation and conservative visual identification criteria. For identifiable items, attribution indicated dominance by a limited number of corporate actors, primarily regional beverage producers. Although the study is based on a single island and one sampling campaign, the dual-classification approach demonstrates added analytical resolution relative to regulatory categories alone. The results suggest that Isla Arena functions as a convergence and retention zone for marine litter rather than a primary source area. The proposed framework preserves regulatory comparability while offering an expanded perspective for source-sensitive and responsibility-oriented interpretation in island and coastal environments.

Plastic pollution represents one of the most pervasive and persistent material signatures of the Anthropocene, yet its scientific characterization remains fragmented across material-, size-, and compartment-based classification schemes. Although operationally effective, these approaches fail to capture plastics as structured anthropogenic entities embedded within coupled human-Earth systems. Here, we introduce the Taxonomy-inspired Hierarchical Classification of Plastic Litter (THCPL), a hierarchical and integrative classificatory framework that organizes plastic litter from broad material context to specific marketed products, explicitly linking material composition, functional form, industrial origin, market identity, and environmental persistence. THCPL is structured across six taxonomic levels (Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species) using biological taxonomy strictly as a structural analogy, while maintaining clear ontological and epistemological boundaries between living systems and industrial artifacts. Grounded in Earth system science and Anthropocene research, the framework is designed to preserve scalability, traceability, and analytical coherence under real-world field conditions, including fragmentation and weathering. The operational feasibility and transferability of THCPL are demonstrated through its application to standardized coastal litter datasets from six countries (Brazil, Colombia, Italy, Morocco, Panama, and Spain), encompassing 912 plastic items across diverse coastal typologies and socioenvironmental contexts. Across all regions, THCPL enabled consistent hierarchical resolution, revealed high producer- and brand-level richness, and supported robust cross-regional comparison, even when fine-scale identification was constrained. Beyond classification, THCPL provides a foundational structure for quantitative analysis, enabling diversity, dominance, and functional assessments, forensic source attribution, and policyrelevant evaluation without normative assumptions. By aligning environmental observations with governance instruments such as Extended Producer Responsibility and by offering a structured framework for interpreting plastics as future technofossils, THCPL advances the integration of plastic pollution research into Earth-system monitoring, environmental governance, and Anthropocene stratigraphy.

The persistence of plastic waste in marine environments drives the formation of novel plastic forms through prolonged exposure to environmental conditions and interactions with organic and inorganic materials. This study is the first binational assessment of the spatial distribution, abundance, and characterization of three emerging plastic forms-plasticoncrete, plastimetal and plastisessiles on beaches in India and Thailand. A total of 29 distinct plastic forms were identified, including 11 plasticoncretes, 8 plastimetals and 10 plastisessiles. Plasticoncretes composed of widespread polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and polyamide (PA) fibres and a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) fragment hardened in concrete. Plastimetals consisted of metal rods rusted with PE, PP and polyester (PEST) fibres. Plastisessiles are formed by PA monofilament lines, PE fishing ropes and PP fibres attached to sessile invertebrates, including oysters and mussels. The plastic forms predominantly contained fibers (93.75%), which are mainly blue in colour, ranging from 2.3 cm to 43.5 cm in length, with PE and PP as the dominant polymers. Floating tests confirmed that all the plastic forms sank, suggesting their local formation, limited mobility and reduced longevity in the water column. This study provides insights into occurrence and characteristics of these plastic forms in coastal environments, highlighting the need for extensive research and monitoring in the Indian and Thailand coastal environment to understand plastic form distribution comprehensively.

Sandy beaches are dynamic ecosystems embedded within broader meta-social-ecological systems (M-SES), shaped by cross-ecosystem flows, trophic connectivity, and multiscale human pressures. Here, we develop an integrated M-SES framework to advance the understanding, management, and conservation of sandy beaches as interconnected nodes within wider meta-ecological networks. We synthesize key patterns of metapopulation structure, metacommunity dynamics, and meta-ecosystem processes, highlighting the pivotal role of sandy beaches in sustaining regional biodiversity, energy fluxes, and ecosystem functioning. While interconnections across the Littoral Active Zone (LAZ)—comprising dunes, beaches, and surf zones—underpin local ecosystem functioning, meta-ecosystem processes arise from exchanges between the LAZ and adjacent systems (e.g., estuaries, reefs, nearshore pelagic zones). These connections are increasingly disrupted by both local and cross-realm stressors. We introduce the concept of meta-deposits, framing sandy beaches as dynamic sinks and redistribution hubs for contaminants transported by oceanographic and atmospheric processes. Local stressors (e.g., trampling, sand mining) and cross-realm pressures (e.g., coastal squeeze, plastic pollution, climate change) interact with governance deficits, intensifying ecosystem degradation and undermining biodiversity, ecosystem services, and coastal resilience. The M-SES framework fosters multiscale, adaptive governance by integrating ecological connectivity with institutional and social dimensions. Key strategies include strengthening polycentric governance, promoting nature-based solutions, enhancing resilience through participatory mechanisms, and incorporating cross-realm connectivity into spatial planning where appropriate. Emerging tools—such as environmental DNA, remote sensing, and social-ecological modeling—offer powerful means to monitor biodiversity, track ecosystem change, and support evidence-based decision-making. Finally, we identify critical research priorities to refine meta-ecological applications in sandy beach systems, including improved understanding of dispersal, energy fluxes, biotic interactions, and cumulative anthropogenic stressors. Advancing an integrated M-SES approach is essential to sustain the ecological integrity, biodiversity, and societal benefits of sandy beaches in the face of accelerating global change.

Shoreline areas are under immense pressure from unplanned activities and urbanization. However, these activities are crucial for social and economic growth. Santa Catarina Island, located in southern Brazil, has extensive infrastructure to cater to the demands of sun and beach tourism. Simultaneously, coastal erosion events have increasingly impacted shorelines and the activities they support. Risk analysis of ecosystem services is a valuable tool for decision-making and prioritizing management areas based on the risk of ecosystem loss and susceptibility to erosion processes, enabling more effective public policies. This study aimed to prioritize areas for shoreline management based on ecosystem risk analysis and susceptibility to erosive processes. Ecosystem services were classified based on CICES V.05, and risk was modeled using the habitat risk assessment model from the InVEST suite, considering two threats: tourism and urbanization. The data on these threats were integrated with geoindicators of erosion susceptibility. Fourteen priority management areas were identified along 7 beaches, primarily in the northern portion of the island. Certain beaches have been the subject of structural nourishment projects to rebuild their geomorphological features (such as sand dunes and shorelines). Because of these interventions, they are considered priority areas for ongoing monitoring. Barra da Lagoa and Arma & ccedil;ao require immediate management actions. To safeguard coastal ecosystems and their services, particularly those related to coastal protection, existing management tools, such as shoreline management plans, should be implemented to establish setbacks in threatened areas. Public authorities must prioritize coastal areas as public and inalienable domains to promote effective coastal management. Prioritizing zones for management interventions by leveraging all legal instruments constitutes the initial step towards implementing responsible coastal management practices.