Beaches - Disappearing Act

Jun 18, 2007 7:28 pm US/Eastern

Disappearing Beaches A Major Shore Concern
CBS 3, Philadelphia
Cydney Long
Reporting

(CBS 3) OCEAN CITY, N.J. Aside from the stretch on five mile beach, also known as the Wildwoods, Jersey Shore beaches are disappearing.

Local leaders met on Monday in attempt to figure out how to combat the growing problem.

The beaches are crucial to the South Jersey economy as tourism is the number one industry in the Garden State.

The long walk in the hot sand to your beach towel and umbrella near the surf, whether you know it or not, gets shorter every summer.

"We've probably lost 500,000 cubic yards in last two years," Avalon Emergency Manager Harry DeButts said.

Some of Avalon's north end beaches have lost the equivalent of 125 feet of sand from the dune to the water.

And that is why concerned residents, politicians, the Army core of engineers and other experts met Monday for the annual Cape May County beach conference.

"It's an effort to learn what Mother Nature is doing and to work with her, not against her," DeButts explained.

"The majority of people who come down the shore, come because they want to enjoy our beaches and our bays, if we lose that we lose that, we lose a major economic initiative in state of New Jersey," Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew said.

Ocean City, Sea Isle, and Strathmere utilize geo-tubes to create an artificial dune that will not erode.

"To protect the shore, it's simply pumping sand into a geo-textile fabric, in effect they are long sausage like shapes, and they create a barrier along the shoreline to protect the property behind it," Ocean City engineer George Savastano explained.

But they say the best alternative, though costly, is to replenish the sand and 25-year shore resident Harold Purvis may have put it best.

"The people love the beach, if the beach wasn't here, we wouldn't have any body coming," Purvis said.

Ocean City spends roughly $8-10 million a year every three years for beach replenishment.