FIGHT FOR BEACHES WINS $300K BOOST

A NEW research project aims to help save Gold Coast beaches from Mother Nature’s fury.

Griffith University’s Centre for Coastal Management research manager Dr Darrell Strauss will spend three years studying the effects of severe weather events, such as cyclones and huge seas on Gold Coast beaches.

Dr Strauss, who hopes to develop an efficient way to protect shorelines against beach erosion through sand pumping programs, said there were still a lot of unknowns.

“Queensland is world famous for its beaches and they represent a major tourism and residential growth drawcard,” he said.

Dr Strauss’s $300,000 grant is part of a program awarded to 53 researchers under the Advance Queensland Research Fellowship and PhD Scholarship programs.