From the Archive: 'The beach is more like a dance than a place.'
With an update on the NS government's obstruction of the public's support for the Coastal Protection Act
The Nova Scotia government is refusing to release the results of a survey it conducted on the Coastal Protection Act — a law that was passed in 2019 with all-party support, but has yet to be proclaimed. Last year Environment and Climate Change minister Tim Halman began the third round of public consultations, this time aimed at coastal property owners.
However, in mid-January it was reported that Halman would not release the results, saying that “once we're ready to release what coastal protection will look like, that information of what we found from . . . coastal property owners, we'll be releasing that information at that time."
Halman also said the province “will have some type of coastal protection,” but this time did not show any commitment to proclaiming the Act, and did not attach timelines to doing so.
According to the report of public input received during the summer 2021 consultation period it’s very clear that Nova Scotians want the coastlines protected. Concerning the regulations for the Act, there was widespread support for the regulations. In fact, the vast majority wanted them to be tougher: 77% of public submissions found that the proposed regulations were “not restrictive enough,” while 12% found them to be “too restrictive,” and 11% said they were “appropriate.”
Common themes that emerged related to the need to protect sensitive ecosystems, the regulation of activities below the ordinary high-water mark, the importance of enforcement, and the protection of existing structures.
Little Crescent Beach, January 2024. The barrier wall constructed by a private developer/ landowner appears to have degraded the beach and shoreline. Photo courtesy Peter Romkey (posted on Facebook).
In the meantime, as predicted in the story posted in The Quaking Swamp Journal last year (from the archive, posted below), the building of a barrier wall by a private developer at Little Crescent Beach appears now to be degrading the shoreline.
According to naturalist Peter Romkey:
In only 10 months over 2 feet of sand has washed away exposing the lower course of rocks originally installed below the sand. Riprap (coarsely crushed large rock) installed as a foundation below the wall is now being spread across the beach. Large wall stones are beginning to topple and move. Riprap and fill behind the wall is now eroding. The structural integrity of this barrier may be at risk, but worse is the loss of the only untouched portion of the Crescent Beach tombolo.
Thinking ahead, a number of issues come to mind. The mean high water mark is now well behind the wall. Construction below the mean high water is not permitted. Repairing the wall in the same fashion that it was constructed will only result in more crushed rock being spread over the beach annually. Removing the wall with no dune grass and vegetation present may put the road to the islands in jeopardy.
Why did this happen? Premier Tim Houston has to take some of the blame for delaying the implementation of the Coastal Protection Act Regulations and the landowner is also to blame for depending on engineering that was terribly inadequate for the Little Crescent site.
You only need to look at our fishing communities to see what has worked on our coastline; don’t build in exposed locations; when possible build on bedrock; when close to the water level build on posts or piers; vertical barriers don’t save beaches!
Notice the loss of sand on Little Crescent beach since the barrier wall was installed. Photo courtesy Peter Romkey, Facebook.
As previously written:
According to Silver Donald Cameron, who devoted an entire chapter in his book The Living Beach to the “Armoured Beach,” when we try to “preserve the location of the beach” by building walls and erecting fortifications of various sorts, “that actually kills the beach. The beach disappears… we don't know how sea walls have that effect, but we see that it will actually eliminate the beach over time.”
We need to heed this warning, pay attention to what is already taking place and protect the province’s coastlines while we still can.
It's very difficult not to see the procrastination as a deliberate ruse to keep gov. friendly supporters (and perhaps even some gov members) with beach properties on their side.
This is so frustrating. It is starting to feel futile to fight this government on so many things. Maybe that's the game plan. Sigh.