Larry Dallimore's comparison shows the effects of erosion at Westshore Beach.
Larry Dallimore's comparison shows the effects of erosion at Westshore Beach.
A palm tree which 30 years ago sat 30m from Westshore Beach's high tide mark now teeters on the brink of falling into the sea.
Council renourishment that has covered its exposed roots will likely only last until Hawke's Bay's next big swell event.
The once-popular sandy beach north ofNapier Hill is slowly eroding, with the cause debated amongst experts and locals.
Westshore's Larry Dallimore has long believed man-made forces are to blame for the erosion.
But studies bankrolled by councils have concluded the erosion is natural, and likely caused, most significantly, by changes to the seabed in the Napier earthquake.
When Dallimore recently saw an old photograph showing the tree sitting well beyond the clutches of the sea in 1988, it hit home to him just how much his community had lost.
Dallimore has been researching the issue since 1995 and was elected to the Napier City Council in 2016 on the back of a campaign highlighting the erosion, and promising to fix it.
In the process he has compiled a treasure trove of photos showing the beach's heyday when thousands would frequent its sandy, mostly safe-swimming shore.
Dallimore says prior to the erosion the beach was always packed with swimmers and beach goers on sunny days.
Now more of a shingle beach, on a hot summer's day there is "barely 20 people" interested in coming down, he says.
"It's nothing like it used to be."
Larry Dallimore has been researching erosion at Westshore Beach since 1995. Photo / Warren Buckland
Erosion and the potential future effects of climate change is a threat in Westshore - in the past trees have had to be removed, while houses, particularly on Whakarire Ave are likely to need a multi-million dollar seawall to stay protected in future.
A regional council spokeswoman said between 1976 and 2020 the shoreline has moved roughly 30m, with an annual decreasing trend of 0.664m.
Dallimore says Napier's beaches were in "a constant state of accretion" prior to 1978 when they entered "a constant state of erosion".
"The only event to change this state was in 1973 when the port dredged a 12m deep shipping channel. This vital port development is the cause or significant cause of erosion," he said.
A Napier Port spokesperson said that work completed on coastal erosion during the 6 Wharf proposal showed that there are many causes for erosion at Westshore, "but there is consensus among coastal experts that the main cause of erosion at Westshore is the 1931 earthquake."
Hawke's Bay Regional Council group manager asset management Chris Dolley said that the report commissioned concluded that while the port does influence erosion, it is not the only factor.
Dallimore said sand dredged from the shipping channel every two years and the port extension is currently placed north of the Westshore Surf Club "where it cannot benefit the southern end of the beach" and 5km off Marine Parade.
He believes that if all sand that has to be dredged was instead deposited at the southern end of the beach it would repair the "seriously damaged" nearshore, stop any further erosion and start restoring the sand beach which existed before the mid 1970s.
People flocked to Westshore Beach in 1984 for a ping pong ball drop. Photo / Larry Dallimore
He said due to the natural coastal sediment drift where sand naturally moves in a northward flow along the beach, fixing erosion at Westshore Beach would fix erosion at all beaches north of Tangoio.
A Napier Port spokesman said the port will be depositing "material suitable for renourishing Westshore beach" from the maintenance dredging every two to three years at the inshore disposal area.
Napier City Council and Hawke's Bay Regional Council were in agreement with this, the spokesman said.
Westshore Beach used to be a popular spot for swimmers and beach goers. Photo / Larry Dallimore
Napier City Council director infrastructure services Jon Kingsford said currently dredging spoil from the port extension is being deposited 5km offshore as it has been "deemed unsuitable for beach renourishment".
"However, all maintenance and appropriate future port extension related dredging will be deposited at Westshore."
Dolley said it had to be certain dredged material was suitable so other issues such as silt and fine particles being transported along the coast don't arise.
Dallimore believes any sand other than contaminated material dredged within the harbour is suitable and that beach swells "sort out the super fine sand".
Larry Dallimore's comparison shows the effects of erosion at Westshore Beach.
Kingsford said NCC and HBRC were currently working through the consent process to enable dredging to be deposited closer to the beach and as far south as possible.
"NCC also has money budgeted for in its Long Term Plan to allow it to supplement the Port dredging with its own," he said.
