** Defining the Coastline for an Australian Marine Cadastre
As coastal regions attract more and more human activity, there is a corresponding need to understand and manage the interests of all parties involved in the marine environment. The development of coastal management has historically been ad hoc, but now regimes demand a more systematic and consistent approach. It is proposed that a future marine cadastre could provide a mechanism to cohesively manage and delimit coastal interests.
One factor in delimiting offshore and coastal boundaries is the lack of a strict spatial definition for the coastline. The coastline provides the boundary between land and sea and forms the basis for the delimitation of numerous legal boundaries both onshore and offshore. If a marine cadastre is to be effective in its management of coastal interests a more explicit and reproducible spatial definition for the coastline is required
In this paper, particular emphasis is placed on defining and realising the coastline, interpreted to be the spatial intersection of a given tidal plane and the foreshore terrain. It is suggested that a mathematical solution to this problem will provide an essential component of any future marine cadastre and provide a comprehensive approach to spatially defining the coastline.