After many first sightings of huge numbers of Sand Gapers (Clam type) spread across the beach over the last few weeks, it must be time for the Welsh Assembly to investigate the link between this disaster and dredging of our sand banks.
More Pictures More Pictures More Pictures More Pictures More Pictures
Hi Simon
That is 1,000 times worse than I saw or imagined - looks like the Razor's had a bashing as well. Walked Caswell to Mumbles yesterday - Caswell, Langland, Bracelet all lost considerable sand this winter. When I get back on 5th - am going to do some photo work on my old Cove East Caswell. I estimate sand is 3 metres lower than 25 year ago - beach / sand areas are diminished massively. - Disgusted. If this dredging decision goes for more dredging - will be seriously thinking of emigrating my life and business. Even Royal Westminster Boskalis the Helwick dredging company cannot justify continuing even if WAG and Crown Estates want them too.
Peter Letheren
8 comments:
Hi - I was brought up in Swansea and return often and have enjoyed walks on and around the beaches countless times. Just before New Year I went for a stroll on Oxwich Bay (far Western end) and for the first time ever I saw a Sand Gaper in its shell (still alive) - I am very familiar with the shells of course but have never seen a live Sand Gaper (presumably since they spend their entire lives buried down under the sea floor). It was pouring with rain so I didn't walk far, so don't know if there were any more then.
On Wednesday I went with my family for a glorious walk in the sunshine onto Oxwich Bay - via Nicholston Burrows and round to Tor Bay - at once we were amazed to see several Sand Gapers in their shells (at least some were still alive) and as we headed round to Tor Bay there were dozens and dozens - and at Great Tor there were hundreds of critters - in fact I would guess in
excess of 2,000. I have some great photos I could send you once I have
downloaded them from my camera at home.
The only explanation for this phenomenon I could think of was that they had been disturbed by dredging and washed ashore. Have you had reports of these before? Do you know of any explanations?
Thanks .... Simon Phillips
Killay.
I spend nearly every day in or on the water at Oxwich Bay, the sand eels have gone, the cockle beds are thin – less sand and less cockles. Last Sunday Clams were strewn across the beach torn from their unsheltered beds, which should be 18 inches deep. On Monday Pobbles was a lunar landscape with a 1-metre decrease in sand. I’ve never seen this before. As a sailing and powerboat instructor I understand the seasonal weather changes and tidal flows more than most.
The previous day we found masses of clams strewn across the beach at Oxwich, torn from their weakened beds during the earlier storm. I have regularly seen Razor fish and other molluscs discarded by an angry sea on a receding tide but never Clams in this abundance. The cockle bed was thin with sand and the cockles were severely depleted. Since the seagull’s time began they have cleaned up the discarded sea life left stranded after a storm, that day the Gulls left the clams alone possibly not recognising the feast that lay before them.
So much of this I’ve never seen before. These were Sand Capers people normally dig for.
ALIEN INVADERS BEAT A PATH TO THE SANDS
Written in the South Wales Evening Post.
Richard Youle
Environment reporter
THEY came from below. An army of strange creatures has emerged from underground onto a Gower beach.
Hundreds of them gave walkers on Tor Bay a snapshot of nature's mysterious goings-on under the sand.
But these bizarre-looking things, called sand gapers, didn't pop up to enjoy the spring-like warmth and sunshine.
Something had exposed them to the elements, and it left them either dead or dying.
The photo was taken by Phyllis Phillips, of Killay, who was strolling along Tor Bay with her family at the time.
"It was a weird, weird sight," she said.
"There were hundreds of them washed up. It was like something out of a surreal film.
"It's the first time I have ever seen them. I know they dredge them in the USA, but how they came to be washed up I don't know."
Cliff Benson, chairman of Sea Trust, in Pembrokeshire, said sand gapers, a type of mollusc, were not a native Welsh species.
The filter feeders - Latin name Mya Arenaria - live under the sand.
"They have come over from America a long time ago," he said.
"They get to about 4 ins across, and can live for up to 10 years."
He believed there were several reasons why they might have come up from the sand.
"There could be some kind of pollution, or the big storms we've been having might have moved their sandbank where they're burrowed," he said.
"Or it could be something like dredging or cockle fishing that might have disturbed them, but they are pretty tough things."
Sand gapers are not the only unusual species to have appeared over the winter.
Goose barnacles and By-the-wind sailors have also been washed up in large numbers after storms.
Although they might not look that tasty, sand gapers often find their way into cooking pots across the Pond.
"In the States they eat them in chowders," said Mr Benson.
WEB LINK
www.seatrust.org.uk
This could be Gowers 1st ecological disaster directly related to dredging. The size of the Sand Gaper beds could be square miles, along the dimensions of a razor fish bed. The numbers of Sand Gapers quoted from another witness and from my observations would represent a huge proportion of the bed population. As the sand levels have reduced the Gapers have either had to dig deeper until they can go no further i.e. Not enough sand to live in, or the bed they live in has been reduced until they are exposed and dislodged. There is a vast Sand Gaper and razor fish bed at Oxwich which I suspect has now collapsed or been severely damaged - it is normally sheltered from the main swells but sand has been eroded off the top to back up the main coastal defences like Helwick sand bank, this has been severely dredged over the years. A considerable amount of sand must have gone to dislodge the bed as these Gapers are resiliant as is demonstrated when trying to dig them out. I cooked a Chowder with the Sand Gapers and they were very good, intense preperation is key. I am not a medical expert but they did'nt poison the four people who ate them and the Sand Gapers looked very healthy, poisoning is not an option for me. I have recently picked up Sand Gapers dislodged by the previous storm which are frozen and hopefully they will be examined for poisoning. Damage by cockling is highly unlikely as the majority of the Sand Gaper bed is at lower beach levels than the cockle bed and also submerged completely. Uncomercialised cockling was extreme last year, with the chinese community being regular visitors at low tide, indeed some have been digging up the Sand Gapers as well. The severe weather of winter 2006/7 in comparison to earlier years has eroded many Gower beaches dramatically, this has not only exposed the Sand Gaper bed but also exposed damage that Sand dredging has done to our natural sand bank coastal defences over the years.
The Gower SOS Blog http://gower-sos.blogspot.com/ is a good forum to post your thoughts.
Best regards
Peter Letheren
Euphoria Sailing Ltd.
Brilliant - says it all. Who wrote it??
I think it's a bit like my current account at the bank - it goes up and down each month (as the beach level does each year), but to therefore assume that these changes are somehow independent of a Standing Order (for however small an amount) seems somewhat disingenuous. We need more proof!
I've been visiting Newton Beach near Porthcawl for over 30 years and have noticed a decline in sand levels over the last couple of years. I was there again last week and was shocked to discover that the previously deep sand bank at the high water mark has now almost gone. To those that know the place the recent change has been been quite dramatic. I thought it was meant to be a SSSI - protected for its sand fleas? I saw one where normally there should be hundreds. I also went over to 3 Cliffs and saw the clams and other shells that shouldn't be washed up. If this isn't indicative of a callapsing ecosystem then what is.
It was obvious that it was the dredgers even before I did the internet search today to find out if anyone knew what was going on. I'm shocked. Can me and the fleas have our sand back please?
Thanks
Steve
...and the reason for the massive winter waves - the sand banks provide a natural sea wall to prevent this precise disaster from happening. Dredge the sand banks and the waves get bigger and we lose more beach. Come on WAG - its not rocket science!
Post a Comment