Living shorelines are shoreline protection projects that provide habitat for plants and animals, stabilize shorelines and improve water quality.

Living shorelines usually include the construction of a hard structure or breakwater made from rock or bagged shell and the planting of native vegetation along intertidal shorelines. The breakwaters play an important role in living shorelines as they help with erosional issues, slow the intrusion of muck and storm water and provide essential hard surface for a variety of sheltered and attached organisms. The inclusion of needed habitat as part of IRL restoration is well documented.