Beach Nourishment in Southwest Florida: Weighing the Pros and Cons

With about 810 million day visits to Florida beaches each year, the Sunshine State’s idyllic beaches are estimated to be the most visited in the world. Maintaining those beaches and fighting the effects of erosion is vital to the tourism driven economies of coastal regions, but beach re-nourishment projects can also be time consuming and costly. Projects to widen beaches in Naples and Sanibel Island have recently been completed and another project to shore up beaches on Anna Maria Island in Manatee County is currently underway. We’ll explore the benefits of beach nourishment efforts and whether the investment pay off.