Fighting beach erosion on a mangrove island

Observation by Elvis Solis with help from Michael Brubaker:

On the shore of Long Caye, restoration of the beach is being done one shovel at a time. Long Caye is located in the Turneffe Islands, the largest of the offshore atolls, about 19 miles from the mainland of Belize. Workers at the Itza Lodge have been working for weeks to build bamboo breakwaters and then to gradually rebuild the beach by layering sand and sargassum weed. “The sargassum helps to build the beach said Elvis Solis, Manager of the Itza Resort. “Not everyone appreciates the sargassum but we know it is really important, you should not just take it away.” Solis has seen a lot of change on the island. “When I came here in 1989, there was another 30 - 40 meters of shore. It extended half way down the pier. Because of storms and the loss of protective mangroves, the shore is disappearing.” The most recent blow was Hurricane Lisa which pummeled the area. Now the beaches are being rebuilt in an ecologically responsible way to prevent stress to the surrounding coral reef. That means building new beach walls and crews moving tons of sand by shovel and rake. The results are impressive, reclamation of beach that would otherwise continue to erode unabated. Today visitors enjoy the beach again where weeks ago there was none.