Shoreline depletion by erosion is a natural process that occurs due to a variety of reasons. Shores can be devastated due to short-term events such as storms, wave action, or tides and winds. Shorelines can also be affected by large scale events such as glacier or orogeny cycles that alter sea levels. Tectonic movements also cause coastal land to be depleted or increased. These processes are natural, and the rise and fall of coastlines is just another part of nature, but human activity has drastically depleted shorelines worldwide. Beaches are becoming smaller and smaller, and cities are spending millions of dollars a year on replacing the sand alone (Prasetya).

There are many things that humans are doing to devastate the coastlines. Along the coast, activities such as land reclamation, port development, shrimp farming, and construction are leading causes in coastal depletion. Within river catchments and watersheds, activities such as river damming and diversion affect the coast. Offshore events affect beaches as well. Dredging and sand mining are just a few examples of harmful offshore processes. Each of these things, combined with natural forces, put the coasts in dire need(Coastal Managment). It jeopardizes coastal cities and environments’ health.

People normally flock to coastal areas to inhabit, and developers now have to deal with the problems of erosion. A strong push has been made by the administration in the areas affected to manage the coastal problems and restore the beaches, as well as make steps to accommodate the short and long-term changes brought along by human activities, environmental disasters and events, and sea level changes.

There are many reasons why the coasts have to be protected. Coast lines tend to be heavily populated and are areas of high economic value due to tourism. Damages to these areas affect millions of people, as well as create millions of dollars of damages. Houses and buildings built along the shore are also at a risk of being washed away if the sand continues to erode.Animals that live on the beach are also at a risk of losing their homes. Coastlines are particularly prone to flooding, and with even less sand to buffer between the buildings and the water, water damage would become an even bigger issue. Another reason the coasts need to be protected is that coastlines have extremely fragile ecosystems that would take a long time to recover if they were destroyed.

Every single coastal city is affected by this, some more than others. Coastal erosion is one of the most severe environmental problems currently affecting Thailand, and the Thai Government has designated this problem as a high priority among national environmental problems to be solved urgently. Coastal erosion is accelerated with the destruction of mangrove forests that normally provide protection from erosion. Currently, their government is trying to regrow many of the mangrove trees to fight back against the erosion (Ecology).

Coastal erosion is also a big problem in Antigua-Barbuda. Dickenson Bay, one of the most popular tourist beaches of northwestern Antigua, is eroding at a rate of three feet per year. Hurricanes are a major cause for the erosion. The high waves caused by hurricanes move sand into deep water offshore, where it can never be returned to the beach system. This same wave action also damages coral reefs and sea grass beds. Coral and sea grass ecosystems normally supply and stabilize sediment, providing beaches with natural protection from wave action. To try and preserve what they have, they are working hard to stop people building on sand dunes, as well as plant more deep-rooted plants and preserve the coastal vegetation (Printers).

There are many ways that the coastlines can be preserved. On way is to install Groynes, which are wooden barriers constructed at right angles to the beach to retain material. The material would be trapped between these groynes and cannot be transported away by long shore drift. These are great because they retain wide sandy beaches and do not affect access to the beach.

Sea Walls are a common solution to coastal erosion. They are usually built along the front of cliffs and are used to reflect waves back on themselves.These provide excellent defense in areas where wave energy is high and has a long life span. While it is all those things, it is also extremely expensive and can affect beach access and can increase the erosion of beach material. Sea walls have been protecting settlements for thousands of years. They prevent flooding and help prevent the beach from eroding. Some of the earliest seawalls were made out of wooden boxes and were filled with rocks to secure them to the ocean floor. Later they were made from slabs of rock, and then in the 1800’s they were backed with concrete to prevent the waves from eroding the beach behind them (Benningfield).

After the Galveston hurricane in 1900, the town built a seawall that is currently over ten miles long. Pine poles that are fifty feet long were driven into the beach and topped with concrete. This helps deflect the energy of the waves upward. Even with this, Galveston is still losing its beaches and has to constantly import sand to fill it. Today, seawalls are often made of steel, and their surfaces are usually curved to reflect wage energy more efficiently (Benningfield).

Revetments can also be constructed to limit erosion. These are wooden slatted barriers that are constructed towards the rear of beaches to protect the base of cliffs. Energy from waves dissipates by them breaking against the revetments (Coastal Managment). The advantage of using these is that less beach material is eroded compared to a sea wall. It is also cheaper and less intrusive.

A cheaper alternative is to use rock armor, or boulder barriers. These are just large boulders that are placed at the base of a cliff to absorb the energy from waves. While it is inexpensive, it is also unattractive and dangerous to tourists. Gabions are a lot like rock armor. They are boulders that are encased in wired mesh. These absorb the energy from waves better than the boulder barriers. Both these solution have shorter life spans than a sea wall, however.

A solution that leaves the beaches looking natural and untouched is Off-shore breakwater. These are large concrete blocks and/or boulders that are located offshore and change the direction of waves as well as absorb wave energy. Unfortunately, these are difficult to maintain, unattractive, and do not protect the cliffs directly and don’t stop beach material from being eroded (Coastal Managment).

While all of these help erosion, it doesn’t stop shorelines from being depleted completely; it just slows down the process. What people need to do is to stop constructing on the shore and plant more trees and other deep-rooted plants on the shore to help lock the sand in place. If people continue the way they do, however, soon there will be very few places to vacation to, animals would become homeless, and cities that relied on tourism would be in dire trouble. Coastlines are beautiful and fragile, and they need to be protected.