Protection, restoration and rehabilitation of Main Beach, Byron Bay, has been ignored by our local authorities for decades. Before I left Council I was assured an application for grant funding to address beach rescue had at last been made.
The Echo alerted us recently that funding had been approved and work was to begin, yet much to my dismay, I found that staff’s commitment to saving our beach remains half-hearted and limited.
Sand scraping
Piecemeal band-aid actions here and there are a waste of money. Yet staff plans to only sand scrape half of Main Beach, from the car park to Clarkes Beach. This ignores the massive sand and dune loss west of the car park up to Kendall Street (the western boundary of Main Beach), which is currently suffering the greatest degradation and erosion. Staff say the sand profile is too low to scrape on the western side, which is true, but what about doing some work on dune protection?
Soft engineering and revegetation
Beach scraping should be used in combination with other soft engineering and revegetation schemes, such as beach nourishment (adding new sand to increase sand levels), addressing beach drainage, the creation of buffer zones and estuarine ecosystems and, most importantly, the protection and rehabilitation of the dunes, including:
• educating visitors – noticeboards, leaflets, and beach wardens to explain how to avoid damaging the dunes,
• boardwalks and ‘dutch ladders’ to stop the removal of sediment by humans,
• fences constructed of simple materials to create sand traps and hold incoming sand,
• the planting of natural plants and grasses to prevent further sand loss, and
• the closure of damaged areas to the public to allow rejuvenation to occur.
Dune stabalisation essential
When I asked Council to fund rescue work at Main Beach, we specifically agreed on the need to protect and stabilise the depleted dunes along the entire length of Main Beach, that is, from Clarkes to Kendall Street.
As the western side of the car park (which is in the middle of Main Beach), is currently suffering the greatest erosion, protection of those dunes cannot be ignored. Yet staff are prepared to turn their backs, saying ‘it’s not possible’, and simply do some scraping on the eastern side (because it’s easy).
The Coastal Management Act 2016 clearly states that the objectives of coastal management are:
• to maintain the presence of beaches, dunes and natural features of the foreshore,
• to protect and enhance natural processes and coastal environment values,
• to recognise the inherent ambulatory and dynamic nature of the foreshore and manage coastal use and development accordingly, and, most importantly:
• to restore the beach and land adjacent to the beach if any increased erosion of the beach or adjacent land is caused by the presence of engineered protection works (aka the car park and groynes).
Time for action
Main Beach needs help if we are to have any beach at all within the embayment. Council cannot continue to dilly dally or ignore the problem any longer. They must act courageously, strategically and responsibly NOW, or our town’s greatest asset will not just be reshaped, but will die an ignominious death.
♦ Jan Hackett is a former Byron Shire Councillor.
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