Can Kerry’s world class coastline be saved?

By Alastair Tibbs, The Kerryman

You might say the landscape is gentle in rural south Kerry; the rolling green hues of pasture and the tranquil coves lapped by lilting waves.

You’d be almost right, if it was but for a remarkable high energy system, literally moving mountains at breakneck (geological) speed.

What’s at work along the Rossbeigh and Inch beach spits, and into the Castlemaine harbour, is a frantic symphony of natural forces, and according to one researcher, entirely unpredictable.

Satellite images analysed by The Kerryman capture some of the dramatic changes the two spits have experienced in the last 10 years.

Sections of both peninsulas have been eroded by over 200 metres, however, at Rossbeigh grass can be seen growing in places not seen before, suggesting a more complex picture.

Kevin Lynch, a coastal geomorphologist and lecturer at Galway University, illustrated the uniqueness of the Castlemaine bay area and how it presents an enigma to scientists.

“Even if we had all the time in the world and all the data in the world, that system is at a threshold where it's changing really rapidly,” he said.

“To say we could predict what will happen would be very misleading. The Rossbeigh spit is connected very much to the Inch spit, and it's also connected with the inner bay and the outer bay.

“All the sands in these areas move around, affecting one another. It's a massive sand system and it's very difficult to try and forecast in any meaningful way.”

Mr Lynch gave a talk to concerned Rossbeigh locals last month, as they met to discuss solutions to the erosion of their coastal gem. There was a sense of urgency as the ‘Save Rossbeigh’ meeting got underway, with not only the spit at stake, but homes and infrastructure along the shore.

The presentation given by Mr Lynch attempted to reframe the question around how these oceanic forces could be dealt with, warning that traditional engineering solutions could do more harm than good.

“In many sites all around Ireland (Lahinch, Strandhill, Portrush to name but a few we’ve put in rock armour and hard engineering as a protective measure,” he told The Kerryman.

“It has resulted in losing the beach at these locations, where now at high tide there is no visible beach. If you look upstream or downstream of these structures, you will see increased erosion.

“It is not appropriate for beaches and dunes in high energy environments to put these rigid structures, and the wild west coast of Ireland is about as high energy an environment as you are going to get anywhere in the world.

“Locals in the meeting were asking, ‘Why do we need a playground on the sand dunes? Why do we need a car park right there? Why are those things not sited off the sand dune and then we wouldn't have to protect them?’

“These common-sense questions are always being asked, and yet, we are still building these things in the wrong locations.”

Mr Lynch advocates for a less intrusive approach to conservation, centred mostly around mitigating the human impact and providing nature-based solutions.

Following the major erosion of sand dunes in the Maharees, Mr Lynch helped the Maharees Conservation Association pull off an impressive revitalisation, nursing the site back into health.

The area known as the Magherabeg Cut was seriously degraded from unmanaged access from beach users and its recovering demonstrated how simple actions like not walking on the dunes can make them more resilient.

The Fenit tombolo has also benefited from nature-based approaches, the narrow strip of beach making a dramatic recovery after it was breached by a storm in 2019.

The Fenit Coast Conservation group carried out the painstaking task of harvesting Marram grass, that is critical for keeping the dunes bound together, from Banna and transplanting it onto the tombolo, as well as preventing people from walking along the dunes.

These lessons have been more formalised into a sand dune course, which Mr Lynch has been running for two years. He says communities that have been given the lectures are ‘flying’ with their new knowledge.

“They're going out working with land owners and authorities, and they're doing sand fencing, they're doing signage, they're asking people not to use the sand dunes, and it's working,” said Mr Lynch.

“So, there is an answer to it. It's this kind of locally based action to just look after the sand dunes and do it properly. We're extending the Dune Action course to the entire country now, with Dunes.ie as a huge resource for everyone.

“If we ask for an engineering solution, you can be sure we’ll get an engineering answer. But that is not the question we should be asking. We're not Lord and Master over everything. We're part of nature. And so that's the reframing that we have to do.”

A better question would be “What is the best solution for us and nature?”