Experts wanted to tackle 7MB ‘chronic’ erosion

(CNS): The department of environment and the climate ministry have engaged in a procurement process to find quotes from qualified consultants to take the first step towards tackling the erosion of a 4500ft stretch of Seven Mile Beach. According to documents posted on the government’s procurement site the goal is to restore and stabilize the southern end of the beach which has experienced chronic erosion over the past decade.

The DoE and ministry are seeking industry experts in the field of coastal engineering, with experience in the Caribbean or similar marine environments. The winner of the bid will need to advise on, then design an engineered solution and a implement a long-term plan for the beach’s sustainability and resilience for future generations. The consultant will be expected to bring industry knowledge and international experience in similar projects and a cost-effective and environmentally sustainable solution.

Describing it as an urgent situation the DoE and ministry will work with the consultants until an agreed solution is found. At that point the consultants will help with the tender to implement the solution, manage the project and complete a final report summarizing the project outcomes, challenges and lessons learned.

Despite the urgency and the anticipated cost of the project there are concerns that simply replacing the lost sand in the absence of any serious managed retreat will not solve the problem and the costly investment in sand while necessary, will be lost almost as quickly as it is placed on the eroded area. With so many hard structures from pools to decks on the dynamic beach the erosion will continue.

However, the government has been unable to secure any agreement from the corporate and wealthy individual beach front owners to start moving back their luxury properties. Many parts of the stretch of beach in question are thoroughly eroded and the structure are now standing in the sea.

For some time now the director of the DoE, Gina Ebanks-Petrie has been calling for a change to coastal set backs in planning applications but after the former premier, Wayne Panton, one of Cayman’s only political supporters of true environmental sustainability, was ousted from office efforts to draw a new line in the sand have stalled.

Ebanks-Petrie has stated that the best way to restore the beach and provide protection will be to begin sand replenishment and then work on the retreat and new much deeper setbacks for any new development.

“If the government is investing in putting sand on the beach, then we need to be able to do what is necessary from a legal and regulatory standpoint to protect that investment as best we can,” the director said in relation to the project, as she explained that neither retreat nor replenishment alone will solve the problem and they must go hand in hand.

Inappropriate development and the historical ad hoc planning decisions that ignored DoE advice for years is a major factor in the erosion problem that is now being compounded by rising and expanding seas alongside seasonal weather pattern changes in our area largely caused by climate change.

Given that weather events have contributed to the dramatic sand loss along with a host of other factors such as the decline in species such as parrot fish which are natures sand machines the beach the lost sand will need to be replaced. Ebanks-Petrie explained to CNS recently that even if every inappropriately situation hard structure was move back from the beach tomorrow Seven Mile Beach would not recover without some new sand to help.

But replenishment in the absence of any organized retreat will not provide the long term protection needed. In the end this will require a political commitment that this current administration lacks. Retreat is opposed by not only the owners of the luxury beach front property currently most badly affected but other developers who all want to be able to develop as close to the ocean as they can to maximize profit.

As we already know from the ousting of Panton and the more recent disagreements among the UPM administration the current leadership is deeply influenced by the luxury condo development lobby.

The search for consultants began last month and potentially qualified bidders have until 13 December to submit their proposed solutions.