some say remove nothing others say each situation is different and has
to be judged on its own.
I did two searches, one using the query - beach erosion - and the
other using the query - removing rocks from the beach -.
Beach erosion (got the most controversial results) is prevalent around
the world with many beaches resorting to replenishing the
lost sand with imported sand, sometimes imported from other parts
of the word! Many of the results were talking about erosion from
Hurricanes, not human made changes.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=beach+erosion&t=h_&ia=web
I found it interesting that even the Hawaiian Islands have erosion
problems. I would have thought they would be isolated from those
kinds of changes, but things globally seem to be influx, cha cha cha changes.
https://www.khon2.com/news/local-news/-i-ve-never-seen-it-like-this-north-shore-residents-shocked-by-ehukai-beach-erosion/1424471806
Rock removal has some interesting results, some about removing rocks
from the beach and others about removing rocks from the shallow water
to make it easier for guest to enter the water.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=removing+rocks+from+the+beach&t=h_&ia=web
https://www.caymancompass.com/2016/11/08/dart-plan-to-remove-beach-rocks-faces-opposition-from-doe/
They also have machines that remove just the rocks and leave the sand.
http://www.beachcleaner.com/rock--shells-raking.html
On our beach from La Manzanilla to Boca de Igunas the policy
(that I remember past 18 years) has been that it is illegal
to remove anything from the beach. There have been times that
policy was not followed but not very many. I don't know if that
policy comes from SEMARNAT for all of Mexico or if each area is
judged separately. I also don't know of any in depth studies
for our beach or the Bay of Tenacatita.
The situation varies greatly depending on what part of the beach
you are referring to. For us at this end of the beach the rocks
and trench show up every year, usually after the first big waves
from a hurricane passing out in the ocean. Sometimes they pile
up with sandy places in between the piles. For the most part the rocks
stay until a tractor pushes them back into the ocean around December.
After that we have a perfect sandy beach.
Most of the erosion/rock removal links I read are on beaches where
the sand normally moves down or up the coast every year, that doesn't
seem to be the case for us. When the beach is rocky you can go
up onto the hillsides around La Manzanilla and see the sand in the
shallow ocean just off shore. from what I can tell it doesn't leave
the bay, it goes out and then comes back depending on the currents / time
of year. We also have a lot of sediment that comes into the bay from
the rivers and lagoons, which is another feature that is specific
to our situation.
It could be that removing the rocks from the beach will initiate a
change that will reduce the amount of sand. A sandy beach is
the life blood of La Manzanilla, so its quite a big bet to change
anything as sand replenishment is very very expensive and
doesn't always work. It would take a detailed study of our specific
situation to come to a prediction of any value. It could also be
that removing the rocks from the beach is something that
should have been done long ago. It looks like we are about to find out.
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