All of these types of stabilization have their own pros and cons that have to be considered when enacting them to protect these diminishing coastlines. Some of the more general benefits that soft stabilization as a whole is able to offer is a less invasive approach to shoreline armoring and coastal engineering while still generally being an effective means of defending against erosion. Also, soft stabilization is often much more ecologically conscious as it frequently enhances/promotes ecosystem health through planting of native grasses and preserving the habitats that native organisms need to survive and thrive. Then comes the economic benefits that preserving the coastlines provides the tourism industry as preserving beaches leads to increased tourism through the recreational opportunities that beaches can provide. Promoting beach growth/stabilization can also help in storm defense and protection of houses and other infrastructure during tropical storms, which are becoming increasingly more common and destructive as climate change ensues.
On the other hand, there are some shortcomings of soft stabilization and one of the major ones is that they are a much more temporary solution and can take years to actually display their benefits. Due to the temporary nature of these types of stabilization there must be constant money flow and public interest in continuing these efforts or the progress made will quickly regress. While they may be less invasive than that of hard stabilization techniques it comes with the price of often being much less effective. In addition to all of this, there is less research on the long-term benefits of soft stabilization, especially benefits to the ecosystem and native organisms, so we can’t tell if it’s really working, specifically in comparison to hard stabilization techniques. Also, these softer techniques are only effective in certain environments and may not heed the results that are desired. For example, a high energy environment with high erosion rates may not benefit from soft stabilization and may require harder techniques to produce any viewable results. Similarly, soft stabilization may not be as suitable when a coastline has already been armored through harder practices as it will not be able to successfully counteract both natural erosion and the side effects that come from hard stabilization.
Works Referenced:
https://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/coastlines/student_materials/1073