BYRON SHIRE election Greens candidate Ian Cohen spoke this week about the future of Byron Shire beaches.
“Coastal geomorphology is complex and little understood, even by experts,” he said.
“When under pressure from heavy surf, rock walls on the coast create a freight train longshore drift.”
Ian continued, saying that in the Bay’s case, the problem is potentially disastrous.
Down near the Belongil, the public beach is lost, with rock walls protecting properties and therefore destroying the public beaches.
Professor Bruce Thom, Chairman of the NSW Coastal Council, explained recently to the NSW Coastal Council that the crucial need in combatting beach erosion is to always aim for a careful balanced, flexible defence approach.
“Close to natural is best because all works have a downstream sine-wave effect offshore, mimicing reefs,” says Professor Thom.
Ian was in the surf when the Boxing Day Tsunami hit, putting down his survival to how the Sri Lanka coast is structured.
“I witnessed this flexible defence type of coast providing protection during the Boxing Day Tsunami in Sri Lanka,” says Ian.
Ian also says that some rock modification near the Byron Bay Surf Club is warranted, and a flexible defence approach is best.
“Generally soft-bag defences, supporting natural sand formations, provide the best flexible defence,” he said.
“Offshore reefs and surfbreak enhancement could also play a role.”
Do you even visit the beach in Byron? There has been much more public beach at Belongil (yes that’s how you spell it) over the past year than main beach. The beaches at the gold coast are much wider than we have in Byron and are all protected by buried rock walls. This is is much more complex than you are making out, and you can’t protect half of the bay and let the other half fall into the sea. This issue has been debated for decades and the greens have no solution. We need a proper coastal management plan that uses science and balances all of the issues including for the residents that live in town and at Belongil. Turning half of the town that’s been here for 140 years back into a national park will achieve nothing other than higher house prices just like the other green policies.
I agree totally. I always thought tourist doing dive trips, could fasten used tires in a planned formation to form offshore reefs. The coral would quickly start growing attracting more fish. Making more places to surf, cutting down crowds. The tourist then rewarded knowing they have given something back to the Bay, in many ways.