Sandals to build a JETTY on the 7 mile beach?

[rastagirl777]

When I was first sent the petition via email I thought about posting it here but didn't know if it would be "kosher". Thank you Sweet Sue for taking the chance.

I've written extensively about this, its exhausting. Long story short - the proposed jetty PROJECT will cause more harm than good. It will negatively impact the marine life, the reef and the health of Long Bay beach in general. It will no doubt be "ugly", all the jetties I've ever seen are. I grew up around them on the beaches of Long Island. In addition to the environmental disaster they can create, they disturb natural sea/wave action causing cross currents and making it dangerous to swim in during certain conditions.

The link below will bring you to the proposal. Its 86 pages long and as you read you'll see that what they are proposing is MUCH more than a simple "jetty". It involves for example ripping out lots of seagrass which means basically anihilating an entire ecosystem. They cop to the fact that this construction will adversely affect their own guests. Its expensive (their money, but still) and it will take a long time - I wouldn't want to be a guest at Sandals or any neighboring resort while this was going on.

The ersoion of Long Bay started long ago with the first "entrepreneur" building too close to the sea, overbuilding the property and ripping out the bush. In the process of overdevelopment and exploitation of the beach that is supposed to draw tourists to Negril all these businesses, Sandals included of course, have created a monster and are now in damage of losing the one thing that they were exploiting to begin with.

Read the proposal, make up your own mind. Keep in mind that this proposal was paid for by Sandals...and even still some of it is horrifying.

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.ph...a41833b61ebe00

Dicky: I grew up in Cedarhurst and spent my summers on Atlantic Beach. It wasn't until I first went to Long Beach that I even knew what a beautiful coastline the Long Island beaches offered. For me, at the clubs on Atlantic Beach is was miles of jetty after jetty - separating each of those private clubs (you can own beach privately in New York). I don't remember there being jetties or groynes like that in the Hamptons but I haven't been to any beach in New York in over 25 years.

When I was a kid one of the things we'd do at the beach was climb "the rocks". Our thrills came from not getting knocked off by an incoming wave and not slipping and breaking our heads open on the slick rock and concrete. There were dead marine animals everywhere - crabs, starfish - as a matter of fact my then 12 year old brother and his friends would play "Starfish Wars" - they would chuck those poor lifeless things at each other (boys like to handle gross stuff). Up until now it never occurred to me that those jetties very possibly could have been the cause of the hundreds of dead jelly fish that would line the shoreline in mid to late August every year.

Here on the Sonoma Coast as well as on the Mendocino Coast the way erosion is controlled is by planting. They have been doing this for decades, that and development of dunes and natrual grasses.

Its never too late to save a beach, but not this way. Negril is in DESPERATE need of a full evaluation, working with marine biologists and sand ecologists to try to if not reverse the damage, contain it and prevent more from happening.

[SweetSue]

Thanks - I feel very strongly about Negril. I think it is important to save our natural resources and keep them accessible for the general population. At the rate our world is going, only the uber-rich will be able to know the pleasures of a pristine beach and sunsets on the water. And the world will suffer irreparably for the loss of our ecosystems. Once it's gone, it's gone!