Beaches Swept Up in Debate

In the wake of a ban on beach grooming in San Diego, debate has been rekindled in Ventura County on the practice of sweeping the coastline of smelly seaweed, driftwood and other detritus.

On one side, scientists argue that development is wiping out some natural aspects of the beaches.

“People used to Southern California beaches don’t realize what they’re walking on,” said Jenny Dugan, a researcher at UC Santa Barbara who is studying beaches in Ventura County and other Southern California areas. “They don’t realize that’s not their natural condition.”

But on the other side, cities say they are doing what their residents and tourists expect: removing the unpleasant stuff from the shore. They also argue that much of what ends up onshore is detrimental to animals: plastic, cigarette butts and other litter.

Machines Sweep Up Good Along With Bad

Many Southern California beaches are swept with large machines, in some cases every morning. Along with litter, the groomers remove driftwood, seaweed and rocks that support life and natural sand dunes.

There are no simple answers, everyone agrees.

“The issue is not so much ‘beach grooming: Is it bad or good?’ ” Dugan said. “We need to know what the impacts are before we blindly do this for another 50 years.”

Statewide, there are different approaches to beach grooming. In San Diego this summer, officials decided to put a moratorium on raking the beaches for fear it was adversely affecting the grunion that spawn there.

In Ventura, sweepers leave behind the seaweed adjacent to the shorelines and take care not to remove rocks.

In Port Hueneme, which has a small beach area, the city grooms the beach only three times a year. The rest of the time, it’s cleaned manually.

“We’re removing broken bottle glass, at times rings and watches and pocket change, just depending on who lost what out on the sand,” said Kim Cuilty, landscape maintenance supervisor for the city.

The county does quite a bit of grooming. Lyn Krieger, director of Channel Islands Harbor, said she receives calls from residents upset about the amount of seaweed on the beach. Removing it is what people want, she said.

“If it were an undeveloped area, my inclination would be to say ‘Leave it alone,’ ” Krieger said. “But someone made a decision to develop the edge of the beach, and there are other interests that come into play.”

Dugan said she has already seen the landscape change dramatically.

Dunes are disappearing, and along with them habitat that supports various invertebrate animals and plants. She pointed to San Buenaventura State Beach, where part of the sand is not groomed, as a stark example of the difference. One side has plants and dunes, another is simply a strip of sand.

Although Dugan is only beginning her research, which includes large swaths of beach in Ventura County, she said she has already seen a shift in what happens to kelp once it lands on the beach.

Because of years of grooming, some beaches no longer have any upper-beach animals to consume kelp that lands there now. That simply adds to the dilemma, she said.

Communities Must Balance Needs

“[Grooming] can be detrimental in removing some of the smaller food items,” said Eben Schwartz, outreach coordinator for the California Coastal Commission. “At the same time, beach grooming also removes a lot of the plastic and cigarette butts.”

The issue is in many ways the same that faces development and populated areas anywhere.

“We have to balance two needs,” said Virginia Gardner, an ecologist with the state Parks Department. “Providing a rock-free sandy beach with no natural debris is not our whole objective.”

That is the balance Ventura County cities say they try to achieve.

“I don’t know if we’re ahead of the curve, but we’re trying to accommodate [environmental] concerns with aesthetic concerns,” said Mike Montoya, the parks and recreation director for the city of Ventura.