Executive Summary

The state-of-the-beaches of Alabama in 2002 is a mixed bag.  Several miles of beaches in Gulf Shores were greatly improved last year by beach nourishment.  Overall however, the Alabama beaches are being destroyed, gradually but certainly, by poor sand management at Perdido Pass and Mobile Pass.  The single most important single thing that we must do to protect our beaches for future generations is to manage the sand at the passes better.

The Gulf of Mexico beaches are one of the top economic and environmental assets in coastal Alabama.  The coastal/beach tourism “industry” is an important and fast-growing part of the Alabama economy.  Beautiful, white sandy beaches are the linchpin of this industry as well as a part of the quality of life for many Alabama citizens.

This past year was an exciting time along some of the beaches.  The first major, engineered beach nourishment project in the state’s history was built in Gulf Shores.  It restored almost three miles of Alabama’s most popular beaches.  Over 1.7 million cubic yards of sand were pumped from a mile offshore and spread along the beach.  One year after construction, careful monitoring has found 100% of the sand.  The beaches were, on average, about 160 feet wider and some of them were over 240 feet wider than before nourishment.   Some of the sand has moved out into the nearshore sand bar system as expected.  

Statewide, about half of the Gulf beaches have become narrower in the past three decades.  All of the Gulf of Mexico beaches of Alabama naturally fluctuate in width in response to the varying wave climate.  The dry portion of the beach often builds wider when the waves are milder and gets narrower when the seas are stormier.  The long-term trends underlying these fluctuations are important.  Half of the Alabama beaches, while they fluctuated in width, did not have a trend in either direction.  Only a few miles of beaches have widened and most of this widening has been due to engineering.  Waves drive sand along our beaches also.  Interrupting this longshore sand movement can cause beach erosion for miles.

The biggest threat to the beaches of Alabama is the trapping of sand by the engineering at Perdido Pass and Mobile Pass.  Millions of cubic yards of beach sands have been inadvertently, and unnecessarily, removed from the beaches to maintain these two navigation channels.  At Perdido Pass, over 3 million cubic yards of sand have been trapped by the jetties and removed by dredging since 1969.  This is probably the primary cause of beach erosion in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores.  Over 20 million cubic yards of sand dredged from Mobile Pass during the past several decades have been dumped offshore.  This has undoubtedly contributed to the erosion on Dauphin Island.  We can have great beaches and safe navigation channels: indeed, for the long-term economic health of southern Alabama, we must.  Dredged sand should be placed on the beach so that waves can continue to move it down the coast.  This is called artificial sand bypassing.

The human impact on the sandy beaches can be thought of like a savings account balance.  We “withdraw” sand by removing it from the beach system at the passes without adequate artificial sand bypassing.   We “deposit” sand with beach nourishment.  When the withdrawals exceed the deposits, we have beach erosion.  Where the deposits exceed or match the withdrawals, we have sandy beaches.  Alabama’s beaches need fewer withdrawals (i.e. they need better sand bypassing) and more deposits (like beach nourishment).    Specific recommendations are included in this report.