When these breakwaters get placed out there it’s going to take all the energy out of the waves coming to shore and protect the shoreline and sand dunes all along there,” said Thompson. “Over the long-term we’ll maintain what’s there.” The waves are crashing in, there’s storm surges and all that stuff. “Right now it’s just a free-for-all out there, man. The idea is that they will both diminish the power of the waves hitting the shore and slow down the currents along the shoreline, which will help the beach build itself back up to a point where it can stabilize and offer better natural protection in the long-term. Thompson said the breakwaters are being placed at the points along the beach where modelling has determined the highest risk of severe erosion is. They will be visible at low tide but mostly submerged during high tide. They will be 50 metres long, four meters wide at the top and 15 metres wide at the base. The project is using about 11,000 tons of stone, piled into six pyramid-shaped structures about 75 metres offshore. The wave action and the storminess out there has caused a lot of significant erosion over the years.” Beachfront by West Point Lighthouse following the September 2019 storm surge generated by post-tropical storm Dorian. “The job itself is not complicated or really involved, but it takes a lot of time,” said Brian Thompson, director of land and environment for the province’s Department of Infrastructure. “It’s very much weather dependent out there because it can be a pretty hostile environment and that really is why we’re there. Stewart Enterprises won the tender for the contract and has been doing the work since mid-December. The province is spending $1.4 million to erect six offshore breakwater structures along Ceder Dunes Beach to stave off the worst of the erosion. This whole area here you can see the erosion,” she said. “The work they are doing is critical, I feel. Trucks are now a common sight as they ferry tons of armour stone to the beach. Shaw also lives just down the road from her business and recently started seeing a lot of heavy equipment activity in the area.
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