When the Government recently approved a £10 million programme to hold back the sea, there may have been a hope that those residents of fragile coastal areas could sleep easier in their beds. However, the approach is all wrong, according to an Australian scientist, who warns that application of "hard engineering" solutions" will impoverish this island's shoreline heritage.
Dr Eric Bird, a coastal geomorphologist with the University of Melbourne, believes that all 40 projects recently announced in this year's coastal erosion scheme by the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Frank Fahey, should be subject to environmental assessment. The same should apply to any future projects. This would determine whether the problems could be solved without introducing "unsightly and ecologically adverse" structural features. As a recent visitor to this country, Dr Bird has been both impressed by, and has become familiar with, several spectacular parts of the coastline. He has also observed the erosion which, as he has noted in one of his own books, is caused by a number of factors, including coastal submergence due to a rise in sea level, or a combination of land and sea movement that had contributed to the sea standing higher relative to the land.
Tell-tale signs of erosion include cliffed backshore dunes, where retreating beaches run on to ridges and "incipient" foredunes, and truncated vegetation zones or exposed beach rock. Many coasts have suffered, including some of the finest resorts like Deauville in France, Miami in Florida and Surfers' Paradise in Australia. Ireland's sandy beaches are still the envy of many visitors the world over.
The 40 remedial projects on this coastline earmarked for funding are being carried out by, or in conjunction with, local authorities in counties Louth, Dublin, Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford, Kerry, Clare, Galway, Mayo, Sligo and Donegal. Almost £7 million has been approved for engineering projects, such as cliff protection on the Vico Road in Killiney, Co Dublin; pier remedial works in Bray, Co Wicklow; protection at the north end of Rosslare strand's spit in Co Wexford; strengthening of the promenade wall in Tramore, Co Waterford; and protection work in Quilty, Seafield and Ballyvaughan, Co Clare.
The programme also involves protection works in various areas of Co Galway, including Gorteen and Dogs Bay beach near Roundstone; dune protection works on Achill, Carrowmore beach and Keel beach in Co Mayo; protection works in Strandhill, Mullaghmore, and Enniscrone, Co Sligo; and sea wall rock armouring in Rathmullan and Mountcharles, Co Donegal.
The budget for coastal protection works is double that of last year's figure of £5 million, and represents a ten-fold increase on previous years, the Minister noted in his announcement. Describing the combination of wind and sea as "one of nature's most serious threats", the Minister said that the Government was "determined to protect our coastline, and the communities, enterprises and amenities it supports." Yet wave energy is a byproduct of the alternative approach favoured by Dr Bird and others. Engineers and quarrymen love the idea of heavily armouring the coastline, he says, and it is a profitable enterprise. However, beach nourishment can be just as effective without disfiguring fine coastal scenery, he says.
Beach nourishment is soft engineering, and has already been tried out in the US, Australia and parts of Europe. It involves feeding eroded areas with sand and shingle. "A high wide beach of sand and low shingle can be just as good as sea walls or boulder ramparts," Dr Bird says. "It may be artificial, but it preserves a natural appearance and allows for continued recreational use."
Nourished beaches will still be exposed, and will have to be supplemented or replaced, but monitoring also yields information on erosion generally, he says. By contrast, boulder ramparts - also known as "revetements" or "rip-rap" - or artificial structures such as tetrapods of reinforced concrete can cause backwash erosion. A beach further down the coast may be affected negatively.
What's more, the boulders trap litter and rotting seaweed, and are hazardous to children. As the beach in front of them sinks, they run the risk of a dangerous collapse. Progressive dumping of boulders on the shore also creates an artificial landscape, and detracts from the scenic amenity. Dr Bird cites as examples the boulder dump on the shore of Ballycotton Bay, east of Cork, which has resulted in depletion of the bordering sandy beach; and similar effects at the southern end of Glenbeigh Spit in Dingle Bay and on the Waterville coast. This newspaper's photographer met up with him at Mountcharles in Co Donegal. He is concerned about a stone wall fronting a cliff at the head of Donegal Bay, which he regards as "quite unnecessary".
Dr Bird believes that the pressure to build roads and houses close to the coast is contributing to the madness, whereby there are demands to halt cliff recession or backshore dune erosion: "It would be better if planners prohibited such development by drawing set-back lines and conservation zones." He also favours protecting existing roads and buildings by putting artificial beaches of sand and gravel in place.
Survey work is part of the Government's £10 million programme, and Dr Bird believes that a comprehensive study of the Irish coast would determine where it is really a problem. It would also pinpoint where artificial beach nourishment could apply.
There must be some scope for nature however. There are occasions when it should be allowed to take its course, he says, as material drawn away will end up somewhere else - building up that coastline, and, perhaps, even creating another jewel like Inch strand, in Co Kerry.
Beach Management by E.C.F. Bird was published by John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, in 1996
