Regional Issue 1: Maintenance of the East Accretion Fillet

From 1967-1998 the accretion fillet east of the harbor (figure 1) has grown about 30 meters (98 ft) in 31 years or at an average rate of 0.98 m/year (3.2 ft/yr). The increased surface area of this beach has made it more susceptible to transport of sand inland due to wind. This increases sand deposition in the marina southeast of the East Breakwater, adversely affecting the Port Authority. The Port Authority and Park Service have spent approximately $68,000 total over the last 10 years to excavating and dredging sediment. Management has included dredging in the marina and excavation of sand in front of the east breakwater

The challenges that the Port Authority are facing include:

1. preventing the build-up of sand. There have been a number of occasions where the beach was excavated to a required elevation, only to have sand build-up in front of the breakwater again and blow over into the marina
2. the Port Authority has no mechanism to actually remove sand from the east accretion fillet. They can only push sand to the water's edge where wave energy can push the sand back up on the beach and wind forces can blow it back towards the marina. Both of these problems make the present maintenance of the marina expensive and inefficient.