Sea plays hard with surf clubs
The cost of fighting coastal erosion and sea level rise is threatening the future of surf life saving clubs, with some already forced to retreat to survive.
Surf Life Saving NZ national life saving manager Allan Mundy said clubs were facing an uphill battle to protect their facilities, and predicted many would consider closing rather than fighting nature. ‘‘Our whole country is now in the process where we are considering things like retreating [from the coast],’’ Mundy said.
‘‘At the moment that is only affecting a couple of clubs but I anticipate we will start to see communities backing off, and ultimately, some clubs will cease to exist.’’
The cost of moving or upgrading facilities would likely be too great for many clubs, which relied heavily on community support, Mundy said.
At Sunset Beach, in Port Waikato, 50 metres of beach had been lost in the past decade, said Malcolm Beattie, president of Sunset Beach Surf Life Saving Club.
The club had moved its rescue towers three times. ‘‘Now the public hall, which used to be our old clubhouse, had to be demolished last weekend . . . because it was at risk.’’
The club will have to hire a temporary port-a-com building for summer because it no longer had any rescue towers on the beach. The beach was becoming more dangerous with new rips forming, and erosion creating a steep cliff down to the beach.
The cheapest and most effective safeguard against impending weather events was dune planting, which strengthened the dunes and in some cases even enhanced them. However, that was not feasible on all beaches,
with some – such as Paeka¯ ka¯ riki Surf Club north of Wellington – more exposed to dangers like fastflowing currents. Paeka¯ka¯riki club committee member Matt Warren said the club, which had lost up to 10m of beach over the past two years, needed to move back 100m from the coast to survive, at a cost of up to $3 million.
At Titahi Bay, in Porirua, the surf life saving club is building a seawall to replace a temporary wall damaged during a storm last year. Club chair John WesleySmith said every dollar spent on that was money which could be better spent on safety equipment needed to save lives.
Brian Quirk, of the Westshore Surf Life Saving Club, in Napier, said he had seen a radical change in the beach, where the regional council had built a stopbank to slow erosion and protect the club.
‘‘We have got to think about . . . how long we are actually going to be here.’’
‘‘Ultimately, some clubs will cease to exist.’’
Allan Mundy Surf Life Saving NZ