Trifter

     The coast around Australia, especially the eastern coast is very important to Australians for many reasons. One major example is tourism which branches off to many different things such as kick-starting the economy, creating jobs, and so on. The coast of Australia has some of the most beautiful beaches and attractions in the world. The economy kick-starts when tourists visit and inject money into the economy when buying food, souvenirs, attend tourist attractions just to name a few. Tourists also need to sleep somewhere and if they like the beach they will stay close by at a hotel or motel. The fact that there are more shops and more hotels means more jobs are available which continues the money cycle.

     Another reason the coast is important to Australians is for the locals. It is a great recreational destination as it is free to enter and thus available to all. The locals come to surf, snorkel and swim, a healthy alternative to sitting at home watching TV.

     Shipping using boats is obviously only accessible by using the ocean. Because Australia has coasts around its whole perimeter, shipments can be easily made. This means that receiving these shipments are not as expensive because the items received would be used mainly on the coast as that is where most of the population is so not much would need to be moved elsewhere.

      Pollution: is destroying the natural ecosystems on Australia’s coast. Sewage that is pumped into the coasts pollutes the water which in turn kills fish. The other disadvantage of putting sewage into the coast is that when people go to the beach, they are essentially swimming in the sewage.

Inappropriate development: is fantastic from a tourism point of view and it is nice to be staying in a high rise building looking over the beach but a balance must be achieved between natural beauty and visual amenity. Fortunately, governments now restrict development in some instances. There are still many badly planned developments which have altered the natural landscape of the Australian coastline.

Tourism and recreational pressures: The coast is an amazing place to visit whether you live down the road from it or half-way around the world. Many locals and tourists come to the coast and put pressure of the natural surroundings, sometimes doubling the usual pressure on the infrastructure and environment. An example being when four-wheel drives are driven on the beaches and erode the sand dunes.

Coastal rivers and lagoons: River entrances along the coast are prone to silting up due to human actions such as waterskiing and four-wheel driving as well as natural causes. Management of these river entrances guarantees safe and navigable access for boats and provides tidal flushing of rivers and lagoons.

-        Introduced plants: Some areas along the east coast of Australia have been invaded by introduced plants. An example is the bitou bush or Chrysanthemoides monilifera which was introduced into Australia  from South Africa in 1908. It was introduced to stabilize sand dunes and was used widely in the 1950s. This bush can overtake native vegetation and doesn’t offer sand dunes with the same protection from wing erosion as the native plants do.

-         Population growth: The trend in Australia at the moment is to live on the coast in smaller towns instead of the big cities, therefore resulting in huge population increases along the coast. This is called seeking ‘sea changes’. Australia has imposed residential caps or population ceiling for the towns to stop overdevelopment of the area.

a)   Erosion – the removal of rock and sand particles as a result of wind and wave action.

b)  Swash – the active part of the coast in terms of erosion and deposition of sand by wave action; the surf zone is immediately adjacent to the coast and the swash zone is at the shore once the waves have broken.

c)   Backwash – Water movement down a beach.

d)  Longshore drift – Material is moved along the coastline by waves (swash and backwash). The process, caused by waves hitting the coast at an angle, which is responsible for moving sand along the coast.

       The motion of a water particle can be examined by placing an object on the coast and watching its movement. What will be seen is the object being pushed up and down on the shore depending on the wave. The wave is initially created by wind pushing onto the water creating a circle like movement in the water. As this movement continues to near the coast, the circular motion begins to go above the water as the ocean floor becomes shallower. Some coastlines do not have waves either because there is an object that doesn’t let the circular motion continue to the shore such as an island or coral. Another reason is that the shore simply isn’t shallow enough for the waves to be apparent above the water. The image below illustrates the circular motion of the water and how the waves become larger as the water is pushed towards the shore.

      Sand dunes form on sheltered beaches that are protected from severe wave action and where there is an abundant supply of sand and prevailing onshore winds. Sand dunes often develop near the mouth of rivers which carry large quantities of eroded sand to the coast. Wave action then drives the sand along the coast and onshore. At low tide, when the sand dries out, it is blown onshore where it accumulates and is held by native and/or introduced sand-binding plants such as pїngeo/pїkao, spinifex or marram grass. As the sand accumulates along the shore, fresh sand is pushed to the seaward facing slop and is trapped by the vegetation. This is called the foredune. Behind the foredunes are the back dunes. Back dunes are protected from onshore winds by the foredunes. Back dunes are usually more stable and are thousands of years old. When sand dunes are destroyed, plant and wildlife communities can cease to exist.

    There are two types of waves in the ocean. One type of wave creates sand dunes by pushing the sand onto the shore and they are called constructive waves. Destructive waves are simply the opposite; they take the sand away from the sand dunes. When sand dunes are destroyed by humans the deconstructive waves begin to take vegetation and any other object in its path back into the ocean which creates a lot of destruction. An example of a beach that humans have taken away the sand dunes is Bondi Beach. Now Bondi has to be replenished with sand once a month to make sure that the deconstructive waves do not erode underneath the roads and buildings. If the sand dunes were still there they would not have to replenish the beach and that is why sand dunes are important.

      The coast on the Gold Coast is being managed by the Queensland Government. They passed the Beach Protection Act in 1968 to have the power to implement management strategies. These strategies include the building of rock walls and beach nourishment programs which are located strategically at points along the coast. Some other implementations made by the Gold Coast City Council are as follows:

-         To widen the beach and dunes along the Surfers Paradise Esplanade

-         To provide additional public open space

-         To improve surf quality at Narrowneck by the construction of a submerged reef [1]

     The advantage of having this type of management on the coasts of Australia is as follows; aids in protecting the beach, protects wildlife (in water and on land), supervision against destruction and littering. The disadvantage of having this kind of management is that humans make mistakes which can affect the environment. The fact that management is needed implies that humans have already interfered with nature and now needs management to keep it running smoothly which is a huge disadvantage.

     All levels of government are responsible for managing Australia’s coastal zone. Federal government is least responsible or at least contributes the least. Local councils or shires look after most coasts in their area. When the area is a tourism area, often state governments get involved in management to assure that tourists continue to come.

     ‘Coastcare and landcare groups tackle problems like dune erosion, loss of native plants and animals, storm water pollution, weeds and control of human access to sensitive areas.’[2] The Coastcare program also provides chances for governments, community, business and interest groups to become involved in protecting and managing Australia coast and marine environments.