Ocean & Coastal Management 18 (1992) 231-240

Tourism and the Coastal Zone: The Case of Roger H. Charlier

University of Brussels, 2 Avenue du Congo (Box 23), B-1050 Brussels, Belgium & Christian P. De Meyer

Haecon N. V., Deinsesteenweg 110, B-4030, Ghent, Belgium

(Paper presented at the IGU Marine Geography meeting, La Rabida, , May 1989)

ABSTRACT

The economic and human importance of the coastal zone, which is already considerable, is destined to increase rapidly as we near the next century. Owing to natural causes, compounded by anthropogenic actions, it is also under threat: erosion is steadily pushing back the shoreline. Tourism and shore recreation, major sources of income in the zone, are threatened. Various countermeasures have been taken, but often with disappointing results. Beach nourishment has shown great promise. The largest of such undertakings has recently been completed along a stretch of the Belgian coast.

INTRODUCTION

It has been repeated, ad nauseam, that the importance of the coastal fringe is increasing at a fast pace. The very keen competition between users, would-be users and inhabitants has also been repeatedly pointed out. The unrelenting population shift towards coastal zones is such that probably close to 80% of the world population will live within a 50 km wide band of land along shorelines by the beginning of the next century. Coastal zone management is emerging as a deep concern of govern- ments, at all levels. Local input has been solicited, but has not always been enlightened. Some countries, for instance the Netherlands, have a long tradition of local participation; but in most cases, high level management is comparatively new. The European Economic Com- 231 Ocean & Coastal Management 0964-5691/92/$05.00 @ 1992 Elsevier Science Publishers Ltd, England. Printed in Northern Ireland 232 Roger H. Char/ier, Christian P. De Meyer

munity, for one, has no coordinated policy, in pollution abatement, in combatting major hazards, or in coastal protection against erosion. Management and utilization organization of the coastal zone necessi- tates a multi-disciplinary approach. Applied aspects of a study must be stressed, anarchic development curtailed, pollution abated, major natural risks monitored and coastal erosion slowed down.

THE SCOPE OF COASTAL EROSION

Whether made up of cliffs or soft rock expanses, in most areas of the world, the shoreline is retreating. The shrinking of beaches is attributed to the rise of the sea level, subsidence phenomena, and climatic

Anecho

Groins ~ Threatened land area Fig. 1. Proposed protection scheme for Kpeme and Anecho (Togo) (after Akle, 1985). Tourism in the Belgium coastal zone 233 changes. Often, the situation is compounded by man's actions. His interference with the natural environment sometimes reaches a surpris- ing degree. According to a report of the Italian National Research Council, not a single kilometer of Italian coast has been left 'unmod- ified', and Venice has been sinking into the sea since 1400 when man dug canals, reclaimed land, drilled artesian wells and modified harbor access channels. 1 In West and Central Africa, coastal erosion affects

AMERICA Washington (State) 35.0 California Coast 0.15-0.6 Bolinas, CA 9.1 Monterey Bay, CA 1.5-4.5 Cape Shoalwater 30 North Carolina 0.5 Barrier Islands 18.2 South Carolina (rocky coast) 0-0.6 Morris Island Light (400 mover 20 yr) 20 South Carolina (extreme south) 0.15 Padre Island, Texas (some sites) 2.0 Chambers County, Texas 2.7 Westhampton Beach, NY 1.0 State of Louisiana (loss 777 km2 in 17 yr) 2.4 Boca Grande Pass, Gulf Coast, (loss 153 km2 million m3 in yr) Barbados, West Coast 0.5-2.0

EUROPE Scania, Sweden 0.3 Finnish Gulf, southern part 1.7 Poland 0.6-1.0 Federal Rep. (Baltic coast) 0.5 Holderness, Yorkshire, UK 2.0 Selsey Bill, Sussex, UK 5.8 Pointe de Grave, 17.0-19.5 Albania (local) 0.1-0.3 North of Cape SabIa (some sites) 8.0 Southern Bulgaria (maximum) 15.0 Northern Black Sea, Russia 0.33 Azov Sea, Russia 0.2-6.5 Gulf of Mezen, Russia 4.0 Yamal Peninsula, Russia 5.0-10.0 New Siberian Island Archipelago, Russia 15.0-50.0

NEAR EAST Israel (Kurkar cliffs) 0.03-0.04 Nile River estuary (Rosetta mouth) 35.0 Ras-el-Bar (Egypt) 31.0

Fig. 2. Selected examples of coastline recession (in m/year). 234 Roger H. Charlier, Christian P. De Meyer shorelines from Senegal to Gabon, mostly due to anthropogenic action2.3 (Fig. 1). In Europe, the width of sandy beaches is decreasing, from Denmark to Portugal and in the Mediterranean from Spain to Greece (Fig. 2). The plight of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico beaches and barrier islands has generated an abundant literature and numerous research projects; in the South Atlantic, Rio's famed Copacabana beach has been threatened.4 The economic consequences of shoreline retreat are considerable. For Charleston SC, for instance, losses could well increase over a 50 year span to as high as $355 million, and waterfront properties might be under several feet of water.

NORTH SEA SHORES

Coastal erosion has seriously affected well-known bathing resorts in the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Belgium. The traditional approach to protect the coast has been the construction of breakwaters, groins, fields of tetrapods and similar hard structures. War-time restrictions on upkeep had dire consequences; interference of the structures with natural dynamic processes has usually transferred the problem downdrift. The specific case of the Belgian coast offers a unique study model. Under local law, the shoreline is 100% owned by, and in the care of, the national government. There is, thus, no variation of treatment due to respective means of private owners. The Belgian coastal zone stretches only over approximately 67 km. Over this short distance, there is one river mouth ( in Nieuport) and two harbors (, Zeebrugge). Zeebrugge accommodates goods and passenger traffic, and has been at various times considered as a site for a petroleum port, a munitions port, and a methane gas terminal. There are three yacht harbors (Nieuport, Ostend and Zeebrugge), various fishing harbors, industrial and commercial complexes, an agricultural hinterland, and a nearly uninterrupted string of tourist resorts (Fig. 3).

THE BELGIAN CASE

The shoreline retreat along the Belgian Coast has been nothing but spectacular. Modifications of the coast have spanned the centuries. Several coastal villages were lost in medieval times; the Zwin, a natural E-p. s ~ ..,;::: r\ '1\ ~" o~ 3 ~ Hieuwpoort ombardsiJde 5" (Hieuport) Dostduinkerke So Koksude ~ (La Panne) 51.Idesbald ~ \ 0'\) ~ I . {Furnesl ~\.. ~ \ ~ I 0 '.... E" , ;: I ~ (.I C) ., ~ \ I §: FRANCE. \.. N \ C) \..""'- ~ ) ~ ') 1 , \ '-..... 7 r '"" .IRljsel) 25 50 65 Km I I I Lilie .1 Doornik} Tournai

Fig. 3. Location map, Belgian Coast. N I..JJ VI 236 Roger H. Charlier, Christian P. De Meyer

access channel to , once called the Venice of the North, gradually closed. Since the 1920s, beaches along the eastern part of the coast have practically disappeared, leaving no dry sand area at high tide, with waves running up the sea wall promenade, and dunes being flattened. Nature has taken its toll, but man shares a good deal of the responsibility by erecting tall structures on the dunes lining the beaches. The ribbon of fine sand beaches, 500 m in width at the border with France, gradually narrows eastwards. The 2 km deep dunes in the west, are only 150 m wide as one approaches Ostend, but plunge 1500 m inland at the eastern end (Knokke). The uneven dune profile con- tinuously refashioned by the winds, is hardly stabilized by the presence of Carex sedge. Pans, depressions opening eastward, form where dunes are wide and sand-hills build up behind them.5-7 While fishing, farming and animal husbandry perturbed the original environment, they did not alter the basic appearance of the land, with their drainage works and a few structures to preserve the soil from the sea. The first major changes came with tourism and harbor develop- ment. Tourism can be traced as far back as 1784 in Ostend. A sea wall was built in Knokke in 1890, when a violent storm destroyed its western sector, the new promenade being built 100 m further inland, on dune territory. But tourism meant also the construction of hotels, boarding houses, holiday camps, cure establishments, houses, villas, cottages and eventually apartment buildings and camping sites. Gradually walking paths and roads began to criss-cross the dunes, and the population increased several fold. Unregulated camping took its toll on the dunes. Destruction of the natural environment has been hastened by stone embankments, which disrupted the beach-dune natural balance; be- cause of the construction by the German occupation forces of an 'Atlantik Wall' during wartime; because of uQfettered building by real estate promoters; by the siting of homes in the dunes; and sand starving by dredging. The harbor extension works at Zeebrugge entailed dredging, but that sand did not settle east of there. The loss of sand due to tidal flows, formerly compensated for by the eastward movement, became com- pounded. In some places, over a 20-year span, a total height of about 3 m of sand was lost. In Knokke, a bathing establishment on the beach had to be removed in 1974 because it was overhanging the rest of the beach. By 1976, the width of Belgian beaches varied from 30 to 50 m; at low tide the beach area represented about 1775 ha, but shrunk to a mere 253 ha at high tide. The total demand for beach, dune (2167 ha) and wood space (370 ha) came, 20 years ago from 168000 people; even 309000 people on peak days; this corresponded to near-saturation, and that point has been passed today. Tourism in the Belgium coastal zone 237 It was a delicate decision to make when plans were proposed for expansion of the port of Zeebrugge, located amidst several flourishing seaside resorts already plagued by a vanishing beach.8 In spite of this, the go ahead signal was given in 1976: new seawalls were built, hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of material had to be removed and navigable passes dredged out. In 1979, the Belgian planners started the seaward extension of the harbor, a 3.5 km distance from the original shoreline. Prior harbor works spanning the 1897-1906 decade had crossed the path of the longshore easterly drift, sand-starving the Heist, Duinbergen, Albert Plage, Knokke and Zoute beaches. The new port was completed by 1986. Added to human actions and changes in sediment transport patterns, and the deepening of the Appelzak, an offshore gully collecting sand removed by the sea from the beaches, the eastern end beaches disappeared at high tide. In Knokke, merely 10 m2 of dry sand remained. The Appelzak's seafloor sank to a depth of 8 m below low-water level and migrated shoreward, becoming a major erosion factor. . By 1974, only 500 m remained between the lip of the gully and the sea wall promenade, one lined with apartments, hotels, restaurants, bars and shops.

THE LARGEST RESTORATION PROJECT IN THE WORLD

As in many other places, a field of parallel groins perpendicular to the coastline had been put in place all along the Belgian coastline. They were supposed to maintain the beaches and be a bulwark against the onslaught of waves and storms. Yet, the beach profile modification in the eastern sector allowed storm waves to reach the sea wall repeatedly, which frequently suffered damage. Storms of exceptional magnitude have become more frequent in the North Sea, the Straits of Dover and on the European Atlantic coasts. Particularly severe was the February 1953 storm along the North Sea coasts, which broke the Zuiderzee (IJsselmeer) dikes, flooded more than 200000 ha in the Netherlands and reopened the Zwin indentation marking the Dutch-Belgian bor- der. Some 1840 people lost their lives in the Netherlands. The Delta-Plan works, now all but completed, owe their origin to that particular catastrophe.9 Another storm wrought some havoc at Le Havre in November 1984. Nature struck again with considerable fury in June 1987, damaging on this occasion the shores of Aquitaine.lO 238 Roger H. Charlier, Christian P. De Meyer Apparently, in Belgium, the hard structures were no longer effective, and the further seaward harbor extension at Zeebrugge caused more severe beach starvation. This problem triggered unfavorable and considerable economic consequences. Preliminary studies disclosed that materials to be dredged for harbor improvement were suited for beach nourishment purposes east of Zeebrugge. Using dredged material for beach rebuilding provided an ecologically acceptable disposal method, 11,12 a solution also envisaged elsewhere. Hence, in 1976, even before the building of the greater Zeebrugge Port was under way, it had been decided to deposit 8.4 million m3 of sand on the Knokke-Heist beaches. This massive quantity of material was eventually spread over a stretch of 8.2 km. The cost of the undertaking approximates $7430 for 1000 m3 per running meter. The 'new beach' is 100 m wide and originally the existing groins were buried; although at low-tide, in February 1988, the landward end of the rubble-mound structures, in Knokke, were again slightly visible. Follow-up studies and continued monitoring of the beach show a loss of ground for the foreshore and backshore, in Heist and Knokke, during the 1980s. The culprits are the deflection of long-shore currents (in Duinbergen and at Knokke-Zoute), sand removal (in Heist) and tidal currents (affected by the new harbor). The material to be lost each year has been estimated at 800000 m3. The term 'lost' can be challenged because the material remains in the 'natural system'. Wave action washes out about 5% of the finer material. The sand was transported to, and deposited by hopper-dredgers to a dredged-out pit from where it was pumped onshore by a cutter- dredger; five booster stations helped in this process. The deposition phase took place in two stages: first, 2.6 million m3 were spread over 5 km, then an additional 5.8 million m3 over 8 km. Close to 6.8 million m3 of the material was placed on the nearshore beach profile. Bi-annual bathymetric and aerial surveys are carried out. Groin bays are used as site units. Additionally, 11 monthly beach profiles are taken between the sea wall and the low-water line. Kerckaert and co-workers provided an early analysis of the survey.13.14Overall, the beach remained stable west of the new port. An increase of dune growth was noticed along the eastern beaches due to widening of the dry beach; however, on the beach itself, a mean erosion of 50 m3/m is quite general, with the principal changes on the foreshore. The latter area of the beach, after nourishment, is unstable. Seaward-moving sediment has considerably reduced the extension of the Appelzak, which has shifted eastward. The offshore profile has Tourism in the Belgium coastal zone 239

been supplied with material. Obviously, erosive processes have not been eliminated, but natural beach stability has been enhanced. To curtail sand losses, various alternatives have been examined; windbreaks provide the best results. These are lattenhaffen, nailed wooden laths, which can be re-used; and also osier-hedges, somewhat less expensive and free of upkeep. Sand accumulations are characteris- tic around hedges.

THE WEST COAST OF BELGIUM Ostend is usually taken as the dividing point between the western and eastern coasts. It has been popularly thought that erosion problems were merely a concern of beaches in the eastern sector, and then only east of the harbor of Zeebrugge. Resorts like , Le Coq (De Haan), Wenduine and had beaches free of problems. As for those to the west of Ostend, they had absolutely none. Such is no longer the case. In Ostend, the sea wall fronting houses and apartments from the fishing harbor to the Kursaal is under attack from strong waves at high tide, with or without storms; the beach adjacent to the southern estacade (jetty) had shrunk considerably. A dual solution, involving groins and beach nourishment, was evolved; the material used was intentionally coarse material. Renourishment alone was deemed unsuitable because the navigation access channel to the passenger and goods harbor has to be kept clear. The widest beaches have always been those closest to the French border: La Panne, Coxyde, Westende, to name some of the larger resorts. Here as well, beach expanses have shrunk, and the sea dyke promenade has occa~ionally suffered damage. A beach nourishment program has been undertaken.

CONCLUSION Beach erosion problems reached such a stage in Belgium that economic returns from tourism and recreation had become threatened. To follow the latest coastal erosion policy of the United States, viz. to let nature take its course and to roll back the 'construction line' is economically, and politically, impossible in Belgium. Causes of the erosion include mean sea level rise, man's interference with nature, economic development, harbor extension, and deepening of an offshore gully, which is however now gradually closing up. Though harbor extension interests won over nature conservancy and tourism needs, steps were taken to save this important resource. 240 Roger H. Charlier, Christian P. De Meyer

This all led to the world's largest beach renourishment project, a decision further bolstered by the inefficiency of rubble-mound groins. It was a boost to the recreation industry and a very satisfactory disposal system for dredge spoils. Though erosion has not been 'stopped', the natural situation has improved and the economic threat has been removed. A modus vivendi has apparently been reached between the demands of commerce and industry and acceptable standards for tourism. The success of the Belgian undertaking has generated further interest in beach nourishment elsewhere.

REFERENCES

1. Carbognin, L., L'ecosysteme de la lagune de Venise et ses problemes. Act. Coil. Mer et Littoral (Biarritz, September 1987) 1988, pp. 504-519. 2. Quelennec, R. E., Erosion cotiere en Afrique de l'Ouest et du centre. Causes naturelles et anthropiques; prospective et consequences pour la protection et l'amenagement du littoral. Travaux, 1987, 618. 3. Akle, M., Problemes d'erosion cotiere dans Ie golfe du Benin, The Siren, 29 September, (1985) pp. 20-31. 4. Charlier, R. H., 1987, Marine mineral resources extraction in coastal areas and its impact on the environment and consequences for land-use. In Mineral resources extraction, environmental protection and land-use plan- ning in the industrial and developing countries. eds. P. Arndt & G. W. Liittig. E. Schweizerbartsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart, pp. 53-70. 5. Charlier, R. H. & Vigneaux, M., Ocean utilization and economic conflicts in the coastal zone. Int. J. Environ. Stud. 26 (1985) 77-89 (Part I); 26, 271-278 (Part II). 6. Shabica, S. V. et al., Shoreline erosion rates along barrier islands of the north central Gulf of Mexico. Environ. Geol., 5(3) 1984, 12-17. 7. De Vos, X., Le tourisme dans l'economie regionale du littoral beige. Louvain, Universite Catholique (Thesis), 1967. 8. Charlier, R. H., Haulot, A. & Verheyden, L., Coastal environmental dilemma: economic development versus tourism. Proc. Int. Ocean Dev. Conf (Tokyo) V, E-3, 1978, 72-78. 9. Engel, H., Le barrage anti-tempete de l'Escaut Oriental: Act. Coil. Mer et Littoral (Biarritz, September 1987), 1988, pp. 496-503. 10. Marbouty, D., La tempete du 7 juin 1987 sur la cote aquitaine. Act. Coli. Mer et Littoral (Biarritz, September 1987), 1988, pp. 126-127. 11. Mugler, M. W., A problem can be a resource: beach nourishment with dredged material. Water Spectrum, Spring, 1983, 38-45. 12. Roovers, P. P. et al., Beach protection as part of the harbour extension of Zeebrugge. Proc. PIANC 25th Congress (Edinburgh) II, 5, 1981, 755- 769. 13. Kerckaert, P. et al., Artificial beach renourishment on the Belgian coast. Proc. 18th Int. Conf on Coast. Eng. (Cape Town, RSA November 1982), 1983, 13 pp. 14. Kerckaert, P. et al., 1985, Artificial beach renourishment on the Belgian coast. J. Waterways, Ports, Coast. Ocean Div. (ASCE), January, (1985).