Cumberland Council in the north of England has announced that people who take pebbles from beaches will now be fined up to £1,000. Many people were disappointed by this announcement, but research shows that preventing erosion is critical. For many people, visiting the beach brings back happy childhood memories. It’s easy to forget that sand and gravel are important habitats for many creatures. It also provides natural protection of buildings and infrastructure from naval force.

Many people collected these strange souvenir stones, perhaps even buying bags of pebbles for paving stones in their gardens. More ardent enthusiasts marvel at the various types of pebbles, their colors, shapes and even fossils found on the beaches, transported here from past glaciers or nearby eroding rocks.

However, it is a little known fact that it is illegal to remove any material from the beach in the UK. This is a law contained in the Coastal Protection Act 1949 that prevents the historic loss of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of sediment from beaches by people engaging in “free” bottom mining for building materials.

Lengths of shingle beaches in England are protected by law due to their ecological qualities, defined by Natural England in terms of the habitat they provide and the species that depend on them. But for people living near these beaches, one of the core values ​​of tiles is the reduction of coastal erosion and flooding.

The extent of the beach is critical to how effective it is in reducing both risks. Basically, the more gravel and sediment a beach has, the better it can absorb wave energy. Removing large amounts of gravel, sand or other sediment reduces the beach’s ability to provide a natural barrier against flooding and erosion.

This volume naturally varies throughout the year as the beach adapts to changing tides throughout the season. Waves move pebbles towards the beach, separating sediments of different sizes into separate areas of the beach. More energetic waves during winter storms can carry larger sediments onto the upper beach, creating a steep gravel ridge known as a levee.

A levee at the top of a beach is often the first natural form of protection against storms, absorbing and dissipating wave energy and reducing the risk of waves carrying across the beach or undercutting and eroding sea walls or cliffs behind them.

All add up

Although one person removing a few pebbles from the beach does not significantly affect the well or the overall volume of the beach, the cumulative effect of many people removing many pebbles may be more significant. Removing pebbles can disrupt the natural weathering processes of the beach and upset its overall dynamic balance.

Given the importance of retaining sediment in the system to protect against flooding and erosion, research is ongoing to better understand how pebble beaches respond to waves and storms. This study is particularly important to evaluate the effectiveness of man-made paved beaches in providing protection against coastal flooding and erosion risks.

Monitoring the transport of benthic sediments is key to advancing this research, as new low-cost and public science methods are used to monitor benthic sediments after they have eroded from the beach.

In a changing climate where these risks are predicted to become more intense and frequent, there is an urgent need to control sedimentation on beaches and allow natural coastal defenses and habitat benefits to develop. Asking people not to pick up pebbles from the beach may seem trivial and inconsequential, but it can help beaches play an effective role in protecting our coasts.