The installations at Test Sites I and II (Eglin AFB on Santa Rosa Island in Okaloosa County, Florida) have undergone intense and thorough biological monitoring by the University of West Florida in accordance with the requirements of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Twenty four hour monitoring was required which included groyne checks every four hours during the winter nighttime hours and constant groyne sweeps during the summer nighttime hours.
There were no signs of adverse environmental impacts. This is the summary provided by Dr. Wayne A. Bennett, professor of Biology at the University of West Florida regarding the NuShore Groynes:
“System has proven to cause shoreline advancement within the groyne field, as well as updrift and downdrift of the system. System is easily installed, maintained, and removed with minimal beach disturbance. System has no adverse environmental impacts.”
The system can be used in conjunction with other natural shore protection strategies such as dune re vegetation, sand fencing and wave attenuation devices.
System can be used in conjunction with dredging to prolong the life of this costly beach nourishment projects.
In summary, the porous groyne installation has had remarkably little, to no, impact on the animal fauna and community structure. Preliminary data have shown the design to be ecologically sound and “animal friendly”. Any alterations to the physical habitat caused by the installation of porous groynes appears to be either temporary, or an augmentation of the natural beach building processes.
From a strictly environmental standpoint, the porous groyne design shows less ecological impact than traditional beach re-nourishment strategies (e.g., seawalls, rip-wrap, permanent jetties/groynes/piers, and dredging), which have all been shown to be directly or indirectly destructive to biota and/or habitat.”