AIRAN SCRUBY
Staff Writer
Grunions and sand were the main topics of conversation at the “Beach Maintenance Management Seminar” sponsored by local environmental groups and Pepperdine on Wednesday.
“Pepperdine has a coastal setting, and we all enjoy going to beaches,” said Dr. Karen Martin, professor of marine biology. “We treat them like playgrounds, but they are in fact impacted ecologically by human activity.”
The seminar’s purpose was to bring to light information surrounding the preservation of California’s beaches, Martin said.
It was one of several meetings that have been held with the cooperation of officials from beaches along the California coast, together with workers for organizations such as Heal the Bay.
Martin hosted the event. Her research regarding beach preservation focuses primarily on the grunion, a small fish that spawns on the beach, burying its eggs in the sand to incubate and finally hatch after being swept out to sea.
Because many beaches in California are groomed for aesthetic purposes, grunion eggs are often destroyed before they have a chance to incubate, according to Martin.
Martin and others, mostly volunteers with an organization called the Grunion Greeters, have been in collaboration with government programs in an effort to refrain from grooming beaches below the high-tide line during grunion season.
Also participating in the seminar was Clifton Davenport, from the Coastal Sediment Management Workgroup.
Davenport discussed the use of sand management and beach replenishment to slow the erosion of California beaches.
Due to the enormous population increases in California and the subsequent control of rivers and streams, less sand and silt is passed to beaches as fresh water filters to the ocean, he said.
Just as much sand is lost to tidal forces as in past years, however, and erosion is occurring at an alarming rate.
Davenport said that the logistics of importing unneeded sand from other areas were economically responsible, given that California beaches generate huge state revenues.
Beach replenishment is already underway; the next step in this process is to refine a system that locates sand free of impurities and of the right grain to be transferred to the beaches we are currently losing, according to the seminar specialists.
01-20-2005