Design of Hybrid Ecosystem Based Strategies for the Control of Erosion at Sabancuy Beach, Campeche, Mexico

The analysis and understanding of coastline variability and coastal erosion-accretion trends are important in orienting coastal management procedures. This study focuses on the detection and evaluation of coastline change, as well as assessing the degree of anthropogenic modification of coastal ecosystems at Sabancuy beach, in Campeche, Mexico. The coastline changes along the beach are studied by means of satellite image analyses and from this, the areas with most erosion and the rates of beach erosion and accretion are computed. The degree of anthropization is determined from land use maps and changes in vegetation cover. The results of this case study show that the construction of a groin has produced an area of beach growth, 70,933 m(2) updrift, but an area loss, 17,001 m(2) downdrift, with an average annual rate change of -0.17 m. It was found that 85% of the study area is still in a conserved state, 14% has a low level of alteration and only 1% can be considered highly altered (urbanized areas). This work also suggests alternative solutions for minimizing the beach erosion, using hybrid and/or soft solutions.