Stealing sand

[Steve O]

Rob from Peter to pay Paul. The two dredging ships, the Kaishuu and the Volvox Terranova, have been dredging sand off of Isla Mujeres and Cozumel to replenish the beaches in Cancun. They apparently need to take around 5,000,000 cubic meters of sand to complete the job. What is that going to do to the marine life, especially the conch whose larva embed themselves in the sand to avoid predators? I believe this all started happening around November 1, 2009. Not many articles online about it but you can track the Terranova here:

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?mmsi=245992000&centerx=-86.76659&centery=20.9558&zoom=10&type_color=3

[ilovewyoming]

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:!!!! Will be looking into this..and i agree, this has got to have a major impact on the marine life there. That map is very cool. Thanks

[Lynnette]

It's been done before. :mad: After Wilma sucked the sand away from Cancun, huge trenches were gouged out near Isla to pump sand to the Cancun beaches. I really blame this process for changing currents, and causing loss of beach on Isla. Why do they bother? The sand doesn't stay, unless they put those huge "whale" things along the shore to hold the sand in place. I say let mother nature take it's course!!

[beachreader]

I was going to say the same thing, but of course it all comes down to money. Yes, the beaches would straighten themselves out if left to their own devices, but what if it doesn't happen until next year? That's a whole year of unhappy Cancun tourists, impacting reservations for years in the future. Since Cancun is still the money-generator, they rob from Isla to keep it going. :( Short-sighted? Of course!

[minniemex]

It seems that since Wilma, Playa Norte on Isla has not regained it's sand. Now, more is going to Cancun.

[itsjustme]

Seems odd to me that they go to Isla on the north beach..which of course is a major beach area to get sand. Isn't there any where else to get sand?

[chamba]

the humans need to leave some room for the beach to move and change. Nature Always Wins.
this is why I live at KM 12 on the Tulum-Coba hwy. let the "I have to own the oceanfront" people lose their investments. and the rest of us will enjoy the beach just as much as everyone else. the problem in Cancun is the tycoons who built their investments there are pretending to be in control of the thin strip of sand.
the convenience of stepping from the bedroom to the sand is very attractive, don't get me wrong, but I have lived Kilometers from the beach and I enjoy it more than many oceanfront homeowners. I like to motorcycle to the beach with my wife at 7am and take a morning walk and swim. Later in the day I try to make it back down for a long exercise of swimming.
As this paradise develops I hope that we remember what many of us know from past hurricanes. the beach and dunes can move and overtake your buildings. even the title can be defunked if the beach receeds.
Leave some space for nature or she won't leave any for us.
Thanks for your time...

[ilovewyoming]

Mother nature should not be messed with. The storms come, and beaches get smaller...other storms come and beaches get bigger. Yes, humans/aka/business /money makers will try to fix their problem only to create other ones.