Case Study 2

SUMMER FUN ON WIDE, RESTORED BEACHES – MT MAUNGANUI MAIN BEACH

PHOTO: BAY OF PLENTY TIMES - JANUARY 2012

Mount Maunganui has been described as being as "Riviera as New Zealand gets", according to the latest Lonely Planet Travel Guide. And this photo reveals one of the reasons for that sweeping claim.

NOTE: the above beach and vegetated dune is shown being enjoyed quite thoroughly as a relaxing paradise. But just as importantly, this beach system is also growing wider due to restorative plantings 10 years prior - in 2002. That fact will ensure that the current picturesque situation will remain a certainty for very many future years .

The whole beach system has advanced seaward 6metres and accumulated extra sand depth of +50cm in the 2 year period between the above 2012 and the below 2014 photo (see sand datum post below). This represents an average accumulation rate over just these 2 years of 3.0m3 of fresh sand/metre of beach, or 1.5m3 of fresh sand/year.

And sand accumulation (or accretion) continues – whenever onshore winds deliver fresh supplies, and this occurs often during damaging oceanic storms which simply now add sand to the burgeoning dune. In the earlier degraded dune state those conditions constantly encouraged erosion of this beach.

MOUNT MAUNGANUI BEACH JUNE 2014: AT SAME LOCATION (BUT DIFFERENT ANGLE) AS THE BOP TIMES PHOTO ABOVE.

Adding to the wide appeal of this already very popular beach (shown in the above photos) is some recent news from TripAdvisor (18 February 2015):

“Mount Maunganui - best beach in NZ, and … ranked as one of the best beaches in the South Pacific.
TripAdvisor today announced the winners of its Travellers' Choice Awards for top beaches. The awards recognise the best beaches globally.
In New Zealand, Tauranga’s Mount Maunganui beach has topped the list for the third year in a row and took out second place in the South Pacific Top 10 Beaches list.
"We loved this beach so much that we came back three times during our short stay in Tauranga. The beach is pristine, and the water inviting. The views are beautiful.''

So now there exists unequivocal recent proof that this environmentally-ethical coastal transformation programme additionally aids tourism potential significantly. It is now apparent this littoral ecosystem restoration work provides a multitude of lowest-cost tangible benefits for many similarly managed coastal areas.