It WILL take a lot more than sand to fix. The problem with the eroding/disappearing beach is much more systemic in origin than what the article explains. There used to be fringing coral reef in Negril bay along the seven mile beach. This reef acted as a natural breakwater that absorbed the power of the ocean before it hit the shoreline. The problem started decades ago after a chain of compounding circumstances. First of all, the long-spine black sea urchins which used to be very abundant in JA largely disappeared in 1983 ... caused by a pathogen that swept through the Caribbean ... These urchins are important for healthy coral reefs because they are herbivores and eat the algae that grow on hard surfaces ... which allows a nice clean spot for new coral larvae to attach and grow. Then, in 1988 Hurricane Gilbert destroyed many of JA's coral reefs .... simply mashed 'em. Usually, corals can recover if they still produce larvae .... but not if there's a lot of algae covering the hard surfaces, since there's no place for the coral larvae to attach. So, between the disappearing urchins and the overfished parrotfish ... there aren't enough herbivores to keep the reefs clean of algae and thriving anymore. Add to that all the influx of nutrients by increased septic/sewage from development ... and you've got a recipe for algae city, but not for healthy corals. The black sea urchin has begun to recover in recent years ... which is good for corals .... but is probably too late to save the reefs. A manmade breakwater strategically positioned in the middle of the bay would help, but will never replace the beautiful elkhorn and staghorn corals that used to be there.