• Hurricanes and tropical storms, occurring between June and November, cause dramatic beach changes usually resulting in serious beach erosion.
• High waves during ‘winter’ months resulting from storms in the North Atlantic Ocean, and known as swell waves, or locally as ‘groundseas’.
• Sea-level rise, which is a long-term factor, taking place very slowly over decades causes shorelines to retreat inland.  

Since 1995, the Atlantic Basin (including the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico) has entered a more active hurricane cycle, which may continue for more than 20 years.  

• Removing sand and other materials from beaches and dunes for construction purposes causes erosion and the loss of beaches and dunes, destroying the natural heritage of the coast and reducing the vibrancy of the tourism industry.
• Building too close to the beach interferes with the natural sand movement and may impede beach recovery after a serious storm or hurricane.
• Badly planned sea defences may cause the loss of the beach, and of neighbouring beaches.
• Pollution from human activities on the land may damage coral reefs and seagrass beds; these biological systems protect, and provide sand to the beaches.
• Removing vegetation from coastal areas destabilises beaches; and clearing sites inland results in increased soil and dirt particles being washed offshore and smothering coral reef systems.  

Garbage and plastic debris, seen here
on Bequia’s south
coast, is unsightly
and pollutes the
marine environment

                             ***********

Beach monitoring
in progress at
Hamilton, Bequia,
2000

In order to manage these changes, several beaches in Bequia and the Tobago Cays have been monitored since 2000 by students from the Bequia Community High School, who measure beach slope and width on a regular basis. Beaches in Mustique are also monitored by the Mustique Company.

Location of monitored beaches
in Bequia

Tony Gibbons Bay
(Princess Margaret),
Bequia 2000

Dunes function as reservoirs of sand, supplying beaches during
storms and protecting coastal land from flooding. 

The removal of
these substantial
dunes at
Brighton in St
Vincent in 1995,
destabilised the
beach, so the
coastline
retreated inland
a considerable
distance. In
addition, salt
pray now
penetrates much
further inland

These low, vegetated dunes at Macaroni Beach 
in Mustique help to stabilise the beach as well 
as protect the land behind the coast, 1995

Piles of coral fragments
(above) seen here at Old
Plantation and Plantain
Bay in Mustique (left)
attest to the underwater
damage caused
by Hurricane Lenny in
1999

Hurricane Lenny caused
serious damage to the 
coastal road at Hamilton, 
Bequia in 1999

Replacing beach sand at Port Elizabeth, Bequia, after Hurricane Lenny, 2000

Groynes do not always succeed in promoting sand accretion as seen here at Indian Bay, St Vincent, 1995
 

• Resorting to ‘hard’ engineering structures such as seawalls, retaining walls, revetments and bulkheads, only when there is a need to protect beachfront property from wave action. Such structures, even with careful design, result in the loss or narrowing of the beach over time.

• Considering all other beach enhancement measures such as offshore breakwaters, groynes and beach nourishment (placing sand from the offshore zone or from an inland source on the beach) at a particular site. All such measures require careful design and environmental impact assessments, so always first consult the Physical Planning Department.

Students building stone barriers and planting cacti to prevent soil erosion, Park Bay, Bequia, 1997