Towards a decision support tool: sensitivity mapping of the French Mediterranean coastal environment (a case study of fishery and lodging)

Coastal management implicates decision making processes in order to meet conflicting interests, to target a sustainable development and to guarantee efficient actions to face man-driven pressures. Therefore, adequate decision support tools are needed. The present study is embedded in a project that has the objective to develop an operational simulation tool particularly adapted to manage a crisis situation provoked by accidental marine pollution on the French Mediterranean coast. So as to deal with such a risk, our study is intended to contribute to the analysis of the coastal vulnerability. The vulnerability depends on the exposure to risk factors often linked to human activities, as well as on the environmental and socio-economic characteristics. It is intended to determine these characteristics, to estimate their "values" and to assess the sensitivity of the coastal environment, while the overall aim is to anticipate possible impacts. As demonstrated in various past cases, e.g. an accidental hydrocarbon release impacts different ecosystem types and the environmental services they deliver and that sustain considerable socio-economic activities, such as fishery and tourism. The sensitivity to such impacts has been evaluated for the French Mediterranean coastal environment and sensitivity indices have been attributed to defined coastal zones. Taking seasonal variations into account, here we present sensitivity maps of two "emblematic" coastal activities that are directly or indirectly linked to seawater quality, fishery and lodging.