Living Beaches: "It’s not just a pile of sand"

Sunshine Coast beaches at risk: expert
Alan Lander, The Sunshine Coast Daily 24 Nov 07;

We are treating our beaches as if nothing lives there – we would not treat other ecosystems like that

You wouldn’t drive a car through a mangrove, or any other environmentally sensitive area. But on Fraser Island, we drive big cars across one of the world’s most misunderstood ecosystems – the beach.

And other Coast beaches are in danger because we have built on their walls, or erected seawalls which have affected sand movements, or they have just had too many people sit on them.

University of the Sunshine Coast was host to a unique lecture, which shed light on how fragile our beaches are – and the danger that we are loving them to death.

Beach researcher Thomas Schlacher said while the job might sound rather appealing, it was actually hard physical work, digging for creatures in the sand.

“Most people go to the beach and see piles of sand, like a marine desert,” Dr Schlacher said.

“There is basic life, such as pipis, but if you take a closer look you see dozens of worms and tiny creatures.”

Dr Schlacher said we had to change our thinking on what beaches were in order to ensure they survived in the future – and to remember how important they were to us.

"If it wasn’t for the beaches, there would be no Sunshine Coast,” he said.

“Think for a moment if it was mudflats or mangroves.

“The concern is we are treating our beaches as if nothing lives there – we would not treat other ecosystems like that.”

He said there would be a public outcry if people drove in mangroves.

“But on the beach you can do whatever you want – total disregard for the ecology.

“We have to change people’s perceptions – it’s not just a pile of sand.”

One of Dr Schlacher’s team, Simon Walker, agreed.

“Coastal areas in general are under threat in the longer term, with pressures from development,” he said.

“‘Coastal armoury’, such as building sea walls, change the system of beaches.”

Dr Schlacher said we started destroying the dunes by putting buildings on them.

“They are our first defence – our front line against stormy seas.”

He painted a chilling scenario.

“We are all concerned about climate change.

“Let’s say there is a half-metre sea level rise over the next 60 to 70 years – take a scale of, say, one metre of storm tide, add the half-metre and you would start to see what land would be flooded.

“(The coastline) would advance inland by 50 to 100 metres ... picture that on the Sunshine Coast.

Dr Schlacher said he didn’t want to be alarmist.

“But there will be massive impact – and on top of that, climate change.

“We are operating in a knowledge vacuum, we know about water but we are in serious catch-up phase in beach research.”

“All beaches are at risk because of climate change.”

Dr Schlacher would not be drawn on whether one Coast beach was worse than another.

But he did say that where human-made walls or beach movement intervention existed, the problems increased.

Read: Mooloolaba, Noosa North Shore, Fraser Island because of wheel ruts and camping in the dunes, and Noosa Main Beach, the latter more for its propensity to develop algae.

“Beaches move naturally,” he said.

“What we have done with building barriers is arrest beaches’ movements back and forth.”

But Dr Schlacher said we couldn’t go back now – we just had to carry out research and create conservation areas – or pump sand like there was no tomorrow.

And he said only 0.01% of all research monies was spent on beaches.

And he said the allowance of 4WDs on Fraser Island would remain a mystery to overseas researchers.

“Overseas people, they look at Fraser, and there is stunned silence for 10 minutes.

“They can’t believe what we are doing (with 4WDs) – and they see people camping in the dunes.”