P.E.I. government needs to make 'tough decisions' with new shoreline policy, says expert

The province needs to create a shoreline management plan that looks at how climate change will impact P.E.I.'s shores over the next 100 years, says one coastal engineer who has worked on shoreline projects around the Island. 

P.E.I.'s environment minister announced Thursday that the province is placing a moratorium on new development in the Island's shoreline buffer zones until a policy to protect them can be drafted and brought to the legislature.

That policy needs to examine how the shorelines will change over time, said Michael Davies, president of Coldwater Consulting in Ottawa. 

"All of it has to look at, what do we want the Island's shores to look like in 50 years, in 100 years? How does climate change affect that?" said Davies.

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The shoreline is constantly evolving, he said.   

"We need to have a picture that says, 'this is how this shoreline is going to change over time. This is the type of development that would work here,'" Davies said.

"There may be zones where we'll say, 'these properties are probably going to wash into the sea and they'll have to be abandoned.' And those are tough decisions to make."

Davies has worked on numerous shoreline projects on P.E.I., including building artificial reefs at West Point and in Souris.

The quick and easy answer is to dump rock on the shore. And that doesn't protect shorelines, that protects lawns.— Coldwater Consulting president Michael Davies

His company was also involved in the high-profile development at Point Deroche on Prince Edward Island's North Shore, east of Blooming Point.

That property includes a huge rock wall that juts out into the ocean and blocks the way of people strolling along the beach. 

Coldwater Consulting gave advice to the property owners on how to protect the existing site, which already included a rock wall, said Davies, including moving the house further from the shore. 

The province's moratorium and the development of a new policy is a chance for the province to take a good look at shoreline protection in general, said Davies. 

"The quick and easy answer is to dump rock on the shore. And that doesn't protect shorelines, that protects lawns," he said. 

But he acknowledged the pressure the province is under from homeowners. 

"There are a lot of people who have properties that were damaged in the storm and they may not have had shore protection," he said. 

"Now they've lost, you know, five metres of bank and they feel their house is a threat."

No new work in buffer zones

Environment Minister Steven Myers said the moratorium would be done through a ministerial order that would be effective immediately.

"You won't be able to do shoreline protection or anything in the buffer zone that's brand new," he said Thursday, referring to the 15 metres immediately adjoining the ocean, a wetland or an inland body of water.

Work that is ongoing post-Fiona is allowed to continue, Myers said.

Myers said the province received 570 applications in 2021 from people wanting to do or contract work in buffer zones around the Island. 

Approximately 90 per cent of those applications were approved, said an environment ministry spokesperson. 

Opposition leader Peter Bevan-Baker said he was happy the government is "making the first step toward protecting our shorelines.

"It's easy to bring in a moratorium that starts immediately at the end of the building season. The real test of this will be next spring when these sorts of things really happen," he said.

Bevan-Baker reiterated his previous argument that a new policy around shorelines is not the same as legislation.

"I think one of the things that we have to do is to have a comprehensive review of all of the legislation related to shoreline development … exactly like Nova Scotia did," he said.

Nova Scotia's Coastline Protection Act is not a policy and it's not just about buffer zones, said Bevan-Baker.

"It's about looking at this holistically and in a much bigger way, and making sure any development in vulnerable areas along the coast is done through the climate lens, the climate change lens, and to make sure we get it right long into the future."

The province's current legislation on shoreline protection needs better enforcement, said one Islander who has been involved in P.E.I.'s trail system development for years.

"The real legislation would work if they would just enforce it," said Bryson Guptill, a board member with Island Trails, in an interview with As It Happens host Nil Köksal.

A lot of Islanders are dealing with the shock of how much erosion can happen in a big storm such as Fiona, said Guptill.

"I don't think anyone is going to protect the shoreline for 100 years," he said.

"Most of the literature you read on this is that the only solution is to build back further. And accept that the ocean is going to keep eroding the land away."

Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. This story is part of a CBC News initiative entitled "Our Changing Planet" to show and explain the effects of climate change. Keep up with the latest news on our Climate and Environment page.