Mission Bay Beach Replenishment

Mission Bay beach is located in the suburbs of Auckland and is a popular recreational beach. Since the 1950's it has suffered a substantial loss of beach sand to the stage now where there is minimal beach berm at mean high water. Beach replenishment and containment is the proposed method to reinstate the beach into a stable form. This paper discusses the design approach for beach replenishment, including the provision of a beach support structure and stormwater discharge. It describes the approval process in which a wide range of issues are required to be addressed. For Mission Bay, these include the impact on the coastal processes, the investigations for obtaining the sand off-shore in water 35m deep, the construction impact, the effect on the benthic biota, planning considerations, cultural issues and the visual impact.