Disappearance of sandy beach triggered by extension of fishing port breakwater and excess land reclamation

摘要

Excess land reclamation has caused the disappearance of sandy beaches in many places and the transformation of the natural shoreline into an artificial coast covered with concrete blocks. We investigated this issue, taking the Toyo-oka coast, which was a natural pocket beach of 400 m length, as an example. This coast was a popular bathing beach, but the scenic beauty was totally lost because of excess land reclamation and the construction of a concrete seawall as a measure against erosion and wave overtopping caused by the extension of fishing port breakwater. Thus, the most important value of the bathing beach disappeared, and now, no one visits this coast. To prevent the same phenomena from occurring on other coasts, we must deeply learn from this lesson.