There is one important aspect of beach access and management that has not entered the discourse: the environmental damage that results from regular or high-volume recreational use of beaches that have no sanitary conveniences or system to ensure collection of waste.  Hellshire beach (Half Moon Bay) is the perfect example of how unmanaged use of a beach can result in beach loss.

Our whitesand beaches are produced and protected by coral reefs.  The ideal beach should have a healthy reef in front and sand dunes/beach dunes behind.   Sand is very dynamic and is constantly moved by waves and wind.  Beach dunes (small hills of sand behind the beach) are reservoirs that hold wind-blown sand for when it may be needed after storms.

However, it is the coral reef that provides sand and protects the beach from erosion, that suffers most from poor practices and the lack of sanitary conveniences at our undeveloped public beaches.  Studies done at ‘Hellshire beach’ before and after high weekend use showed increase in nitrates immediately after the ‘beach party’ and an obvious increase in algae (phytoplankton) three to five days later.  From as early as 1990, UWI researchers warned that “with no organised sanitary conveniences or facilities for a fishing village, nutrients are being quickly and crudely released into the waters of Half Moon Bay”.  The reef at ‘Hellshire beach’ could not survive the constant high-nutrient water and the resulting growth of smothering algae.