Most people associate beaches with images of sun, surf, sand, swimming and fun. Families, especially those with young children, look forward to summer days of relaxation after months of being confined to their homes with limited outdoor activity. Tourism operators with no private beach facilities promise their clients that the islands’ public beaches can be enjoyed for little or no cost, raising expectations of a pleasant experience on our sunny island.
The maintenance of beaches rarely features in the public debate except when summer comes and thousands flock to our limited shoreline that is easily accessible to bathers. We probably have only a mile or so of coastline that is easily accessible by those who want to spend a few hours or days by the sea.
Still, there is no comprehensive regulation for shoreline management that includes how to keep sand on beaches, addressing environmental and public hygiene issues, cleaning beaches of seaweed after winter storms, handling concessionaries and more.
A visit to some of our sandy beaches will prove how we may be taking the health of our beaches for granted.
At the beginning of summer, Armier Bay, for instance, was still not cleared of seaweed washed in by the winter storms. Even more worrying, the first shallow 20 metres of the waterline are littered with stones of all sizes rolled in by the gregale storms. Unless this debris is cleared, it will be almost impossible for bathers to swim out without risking breaking a leg.
Our shoreline remains littered with caravans, motorhomes and even large rusting containers used as summer residences by some locals and foreigners. The new regulations are a move in the right direction. But they are unlikely to reduce the number of caravans ruining our minuscule beaches’ aesthetic beauty. Charging a nominal fee for a renewable permit will deny several metres of shoreline to the general public. It is not the way to ensure that our investment in beaches is sustainable.
Our beaches’ economic and social investment must be upgraded to include ties with science. We need to improve to create a community of practice between those responsible for maintaining beaches, shorelines, dunes, harbours and related areas and those in the academic and research areas, who try to figure out best practices to physically maintain those areas.
Some people spend a week or more on vacation leaving chairs, tents, coolers, barbecue rubbish and other things out overnight on the beach. In the last few years, we have experienced the phenomenon of nesting sea turtles which have returned to our sandy beaches.
Making the public aware of the environmental fragility of our beaches goes a long way
Volunteers do a great job raising public awareness about the importance of protecting our beaches’ aesthetic, ecological and environmental fragility. Those responsible for our inadequate beach maintenance regulations must answer the question, “How do you maintain the beach as a habitat and keep its appeal for tourism to ensure both turtles and people can share the beach?”
Unfortunately, civic behaviour does not come naturally to some people. Several of our beaches are littered with trash, including broken glass bottles and even syringes used for drug abuse. The inadequate sanitary facilities often lead to other human pollution. Despite rarely enforced regulations, dogs are often seen in beach areas designated for bathers only.
Central government must raise the standards of beach maintenance as local councils do not have the financial and human resources to take this initiative. We must ensure that there is funding for a comprehensive beach management programme to replace current disjointed regulations that are rarely enforced.
Scientific research must be done on how winter storms impact our beaches and how the invasion of people on our shorelines in summer affects our waters and the environment. This research must not be just about long reports, numbers, and equations. It must indicate to beach managers what action must be taken to ensure that our beaches can provide a good experience to the locals and visitors next year.
Making the public aware of the environmental fragility of our beaches goes a long way. While enacting beach protection regulations is a top priority, the constructive enforcement of these regulations is equally important. Our commitment to reverse negative trends in our record for environmental protection will only be credible if we acknowledge that our social and economic investment in our beach management is, at best, inadequate.
Hopefully, through efforts of voluntary organisations, tourism operators and policymakers, the public will understand and acknowledge the hard work that maintenance professionals must do to make the beach experience a happy one.