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Confidence is high that St Francis Bay's beach can be saved from continous beach erosion and the threat of the beach disappearing forever.

All environmental studies have been done, the poles for an experimental groyne are ready at Hobie beach - all that's needed is provincial funding and this appears to be a strong possibility.

Using the Langebaan beach as a model great efforts are being made to raise R80 million over three years to rescue St Francis Bay's beach from a similar fate. After a severe winter storm in 1997 when there were huge floods several houses were washed away at Langebaan beach, situated at Saldanha Bay in the Western Cape, South Africa.

The scale of the erosion at Langebaan is significant: more than 100 m of beach has been lost since the 1960s, about 40 m of which has been lost in the past five years. Hundreds of metres of beach have disappeared as a consequence of developments at Saldanha Bay, including the extension of the Portnet quay and the narrowing of Saldanha Bay mouth.

Langebaan municipality received a R39-M governmental grant over three years to save its beach. For this model to be echoed at the idyllic St Francis Bay in the Eastern Cape, the support of the local Kouga municipality is needed. And the Kouga Council has given the project its whole-hearted backing by approving by resolution the formation of a steering committee, the Kouga Disaster Management/ St Francis Bay Beach Action Group. The Beach Action Group consisting of Kouga councillors and private individuals (some of who were actively involved in Save the Beach committee), has drawn up a detailed municipal-approved business plan or project to save the beach.

This will be presented to the MEC and Joe Jordan, principal advisor to the MEC, of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAET), in the first week in January 2005 - the most critical milestone in the road to saving the beach. The plan includes the final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on proposed beach erosion remediation at St Francis Bay.

It notes that this beach is “experiencing continued beach erosion problems resulting from the loss of the beach and an increased risk of damage to beachfront houses and municipal infrastructure, such as roads, parking bays and access stairs to the beach, among other problems and threats.” It also notes that Kouga municipality proposes to rectify St Francis Bay beach in order to solve beach erosion. “Without beach remediation, the protective fore-dunes and ultimately the properties in St Francis Bay are at risk.”

The photoabove right shows St Francis Bay beach after a severe storm in 2003 washed a section of the sand dune away. The one below shows a part of this beach where the storm damaged the sand dunes and bolstering rocks.

This final EIR will help DEAET to decide whether to approve or await further studies. When DEAET approves the application for funding ir will issue a Record of Decision and the remediation of the beach will commence!

“Confidence is high,” say Don Calder and Peter Martin, members of the steering committee, “that we will be able to raise the necessary funds. We know Langebaan happened and St Francis Bay can go down the same route.”

The pair relates that the experimental groyne project will be started at Hobie beach in the New Year, dependant on the Provincial funding being forthcoming. Since 2004 private individuals, spearheaded by Calder, Martin and Nevil Hulett, have taken steps to save the beach from disaster.

Meetings were held with various provincial and national government departments aimed at selling the idea of saving St Francis Bay beach. It was pointed out continuously that if there is no beach at St Francis Bay tourism will be affected and this will adversely affect the economy. Some of the most important meetings included talks with the Director General of DEAET in Pretoria, Dr C Olver, the deputy Director General of Environmental Affairs & Tourism, the CEO for SA Tourism in Johannesburg, and with the office of the MEC EC, DEAET, in Bisho.

To date all funds for the project to save the beach have come from private individuals.

Beach Erosion Supreme...These two photos show the same Santareme beach at St Francis Bay.. The differences are obvious, with the one on the left showing Santareme in 1965, with sand dunes and a wide beach while on the right is what it looks like today, with houses and a narrow beach. They simply show cause and effect.