Measures
"Foolish is the man
who sows the air and
tills the sand."
As we watch the endless progression of visitors, not all of them children, avidly break out the shovels and start digging as if their very lives depend on reaching some mystic depth, we are reminded of the above, attributed to a 16th century poet. We usually ask those around us to fill in their holes and take in their stuff, but we are often rudely reminded that it is none of our business. Several times I have been told that that portion of the beach is "owned" by someone who said it was Ok to dig and leave. Fools! No one can own sand; it is as ephemeral as air. When the big winds and waves come and pound the coastline, their "sand" is often taken far away and deposited on someone's else's piece of temporary land. I don't see them trying to find their sand afterwards. I don't hear from them when the dump trucks begin bringing dredged sand back to their dwelling space and that sand came from somewhere in the Gulf that didn't belong to the homeowner getting it either. Better to understand what this piece of paradise needs and must have to survive the onslaught of man; turtle habitat, and unlike bird nesting sites, or marine aquaculture sites, turtle nesting areas can't be easily defined or charted, graphed, plotted until after the turtle has laid eggs. What is really needed are laws that protect and are enforced, that protect wildlife including turtles and that have high dollar fines for individuals or owners whose beach "property" has holes left by renters or visitors, and for our flotsam and jetsam, the toys left afterwards. Get some balls, boys. Put some teeth into the laws and enforce'em! The developers and the irriational beachfront home owners who insist that they "own" the land to waters edge must be brought into the process, and taught what is required to get along with the rest of life.
Catch'em while they're digging and give'em a courtesy notice requesting holes be filled and detritus removed nightly. Take names and addresses, then check back. Give'em a ticket much as tickets are given for bringing glassware to the beach. The days of "all about ME" are over. Responsibility starts now. Might take some more deputies or night patrol lifeguards, or civilian deputized assistants. But that is what will ultimately end the problems. Make it cost'em.
The rest of those ideas - education, magnets for units, airplane banners, signs, more signs ad nauseum, are for the kids who can still learn without rancor and infantile behavior. That's what I think anyway.
