Aussies warned against 'harmless' act causing major beach damage
Beachgoers have been accused of a damaging act that is putting the local ecosystem at risk as many attempt to catch a glimpse of the wild conditions brought by Ex-Cyclone Alfred. People are now being urged to stay far away from the sand dunes, which have taken a recent battering along the Aussie coastline.
Photos show despite widespread beaches closures, visitors have been sighted walking atop the delicate dune systems, and volunteers have said while climbing and jumping off the eroded dunes may seem "harmless fun", it has the potential to be dangerous and cause even greater dune collapse.
They are incredibly important in holding sand in place, creating a natural flood barrier, a buffer for wind erosion and are a nesting ground for native birds and endangered turtles.
"Please help protect our eroded dunes and the turtle nests in them," Coolum and North Shore Coast Care shared online. "Some nests are only a metre or so from the edge and we are monitoring them closely.
"Vegetation is so important to hold the sand in place and the turtle eggs safe until they hatch."
It comes as Sunshine Coast's Beach Matters president Rachael Bermingham told Yahoo News a cluster of endangered loggerhead turtle nests were recently rescued at the edge of an escarpment created by massive swells at Peregian Beach, near Noosa.
READ MORE: 🌀 Cyclone Alfred live updates
"One of our locals called it in, and turtle volunteers swung into action," she told Yahoo. "It really does highlight the immense work volunteers do to get endangered loggerhead turtle numbers up.
"Please remember dunes are protected and prohibited. Stay off them, they are very fragile and take a long time to recover."
Across large stretches of the east coast either side of the Queensland-NSW border, photos show drop offs as steep as six metres where the damaging waves have ripped the sand away from the beach and washed it away.
It's not the first time irresponsible visitors have been blasted in the area for bad behaviour on the dunes, with Yahoo reporting in January e-bike tracks were spotted on Peregian Beach. 4WDs have also been called out for the "tremendous damage" their reckless behaviour is inflicting on wildlife.
Bermingham echoed comments made by University of the Sunshine Coast's Dr Javier Leon who earlier told Yahoo News the dunes could take "years" to recover.
"Our greatest concern is what is to come in terms of the swell, waves, wind," she told Yahoo. "The beaches have copped an absolute flogging all along the coastline. It will take a few years for these beaches to come back to their pre-cyclone state".
Bermingham believes "a lot of people don't know" that dunes and their vegetation are protected. "People are inadvertently sitting on protected dunes which is making them more fragile and compromising them more," she said.
"Because the dunes have eroded so badly, we're seeing lots of turtle nests at high risk and relocate them on the fly," Bermingham said. "[Volunteers] have done an outstanding job in the most ridiculous of conditions to jump into gear and save the eggs and relocate them to areas where they are not so at risk."
Safer conditions look like sheltered areas with plenty of vegetation on higher ground and out of the way of large ocean swells.
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