The primary vehicle for implementing the beach management planning recommendations is the Florida Beach Erosion Control Program, which is a program established for the purpose of working in concert with local, state and federal governmental entities to achieve the protection, preservation and restoration of the coastal sandy beach resources of the state. Under the program, financial assistance in an amount up to 50 percent of project costs is available to Florida's county and municipal governments, community development districts, or special taxing districts for shore protection and preservation activities located on the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean, or Straits of Florida. Eligible activities include beach restoration and nourishment activities, project design and engineering studies, environmental studies and monitoring, inlet management planning, inlet sand transfer, dune restoration and protection activities, and other beach erosion prevention related activities. The program is authorized by Section 161.101, Florida Statutes . Since its inception in 1964, the Florida Beach Erosion Control Program has been a primary source of funding to local governments for beach erosion control and preservation activities.
Beach erosion threatens the very resource that residents and visitors enjoy.
While some of this erosion is due to natural forces and imprudent coastal development, a significant amount of coastal erosion in Florida is directly attributable to the construction and maintenance of navigation inlets. Florida has over 60 inlets around the state, many have been artificially deepened to accommodate commercial and recreational vessels and employ jetties to prevent sand from filling in the channels. A by-product of this practice is that the jetties and the inlet channels have interrupted the natural flow of sand along the beach causing an accumulation of sand in the inlet channel and at the jetty on one side of the inlet, and a loss of sand to the beaches on the other side of the inlet. One way to restore eroded beaches is through beach nourishment. In a typical beach nourishment project, sand is collected from an offshore location by a dredge and is piped onto the beach.