I'm doing an editorial for school against pumping the beaches, does anyone know any more problems with it? (other than ruining our breaks and costing a sh** load of money)
Loss/alteration of coastal ecosystems, loss of recreation areas, very temporary solution to a long-lasting problem, etc. Can't think of any more right this instant
because there wont be any visual change. if people see that theyre working on the beaches and its not getting bigger they'll complain and protest it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beach_nourishment i remember i was looking at it when they were doing it to Lb
Change in benthic sediments and biology... studies have shown it takes at least two years to get the worms, crabs, clams, oysters, ect. back after pumping. So the fish species that rely on them don't come close to the beaches. Translate that into monetary loss in the recreational fishing industry, and the local businesses lose MILLIONS, and the state takes a hit, too, because that money generates taxes.
yeah...i think man-made reefs as a means of controlling beach erosion wouldnt work well for most big east coast beach towns. An artificial reef could shelter one small stretch of beach and hold some sand, at the expense of nearby beaches (a reef doesnt CREATE sand...it just traps it in one location) but a town like OCMD is what? 9 miles long...
what's wrong w/ desert sand? i say we rape the desert for some nice beach breaks, it's gonna be expensive either way. why not get it where the supply is almost infinite instead of robbing peter to pay paul. one more reason to win the war, then we can take their oil AND their sand...
desert sand is generally of a much finer grain than beach sand...think talcum power istead of ground coffee. it tends to not only blow away easier, but wash away easier as well. if you trucked desert sand onto a nj beach in the fall, it would be gone 10x faster than sand pumped from offshore shoals & banks. at least in pumping from local areas, the sand is (kind of) similar to the stuff that's already on the beach. beach replenishment is nothing more than modern man's latest attempt at controlling nature. if you look back before the 1950's or '60s, nothing on a barrier island was "permanent". it could be moved at any time if imperiled by the sea. that the beaches washed away in storms was an understood fact of life. after it's move, the cape hatteras lighthouse is now the exact same distance from the ocean as it was at the time it was built. NOTHING was built ocean-front. it was, & remains, foolish to do so. like the moon does over the course of 4 weeks, the beaches wax & wane as the year cycles thru the seasons. winter means smaller, steeper beaches as the storms pummel the shore & wash sand offshore to the sand bars. summer time means wider, more gently sloped beaches as the smaller waves deposit sand upon the shore & build the beaches back up. it is a cycle, just like the water cycle, but tourism boards & beach-front property owners aren't interested in that. beach replenishment is a product of the pursuit of the almighty tourist dollar. screw the natural order of things, screw the sand worms, mole crabs, & mollusks that aren't cute & cuddly like dolphins. we want MONEY!!!!! & big beaches=lots & lots of money.
