Byron Bay storm erosion 31 July 2020 from BluecoastConsultingEngineers on Vimeo.
Echo NetDaily, 18 November 2020:
The state government is set to install sand bags at Clarkes Beach to protect the Beach Byron Bay cafe and Whites Cottage from the coastal erosion that has decimated the popular strip.
But it says the bags are just a temporary measure to give the building owners time to ‘reconfigure’ their premises, and that the cafe owner has been told to prepare for ‘future retreat’.
Management strategies were discussed at an urgent meeting held last month by the various state and local agencies who have responsibility for the Clarkes Beach area, including Council, Crown Lands and the Environment Department.
Clarkes has been severely affected by erosion over the past 12 to 18 months, with tonnes of sand stripped away exposing a rock shelf beneath. The beach is littered with uprooted pandanus trees, and the eroded dune line is now within metres of the Beach Byron Bay cafe.
There has also been further exposure of Aboriginal middens……
Representatives from a number of the agencies also expressed their views about the causes of the erosion; most were generally in agreement. This included an expert from the NSW Environment Department’s Sciences Group, who said the erosion was owing to a general reduction in the frequency of southerly swells, which played an important role in bringing sand to Clarkes Beach and Main Beach.
At the same time, there was an increase in the frequency of east and/or north east swells – patterns that have the effect of taking sand away from the beaches.
‘The net result over time is that the shoreline is undergoing a long-term trend of landward recession…’ the expert reportedly told the meeting.
‘Shoreline recession will also be influenced by sea level rise. An erosion period is occurring at the moment with no way to estimate when it will end. History tells us that the shorelines will eventually accrete [gather more sand]; however, when this will occur there is no way to know’.
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The Guardian, 20 October 2020:
Australia’s famous Byron Bay beach has been closed to swimmers and surfers as authorities carry out emergency sandbagging to prevent further damaging erosion.
Escalating erosion at Main Beach and Clarkes Beach in the northern New South Wales town has left a drop of several metres from the top of crumbling dunes down to the beach.
Max Pendergast, a 77-year-old local who has lived and surfed at Byron Bay his whole life, told Guardian Australia he had never seen the beaches in a worse condition.
“I’ve been through quite a few big cyclones, I’ve seen the sea come over the six-metre high dunes, but what’s happening now is an etching away of the beach,” he said.
“It looks pretty ugly right now, because a lot of the beach is just gone. It’s very bad.”
Pendergast said he noticed the beach deteriorate significantly over the past six months, and said he was concerned that if erosion continued waves would threaten units and the road along the beachfront.
“Not that long ago it was beautiful white sand all the way down to the water, but now it’s just rock, it really has eaten it away......
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