Sunshine Coast beach receding rapidly
By BILL HOFFMAN
January 18, 2010 THE central Sunshine Coast’s rapidly receding coastline means it is almost inevitable a hard structure will need to be built to halt further erosion. That is the grim assessment of Sunshine Coast Council manager of coast and canal engineering Denis Shaw as he has watched the high tide line close to within 20 metres of the kerb of the region’s busiest thoroughfares. An east coast low early in 2009 stripped sand from the beach that has not returned. With the coastline recession now an historical trend, Mr Shaw said chances of it returning naturally were slim. The section of coastline from Mooloolaba to Mudjimba is subject to a shoreline erosion management plan now being considered, in addition to a coastal process study which would show where sand was being deposited and was receding. The central coast strip also suffers because it seems to be in the shade of any northern drift of sand up the Queensland coast. … Erosion between the Alexandra Headland skate ramp and Sea Breeze Caravan Park has left four to five metres of scarping which consists of two metres of fill atop sand below. … The central coast was not the only area of coastline badly affected by last year’s east coast low with council shifting the Dicky Beach lifeguard tower back five metres from where it sat in 2009. …
