Share this story | More Date of Issue: Sep 8, 2010 Coquina Beach renourishment study under way By Rick Catlin Islander Reporter Marine biologists, surveyors and divers from Coastal Planning and Engineering Inc. of Boca Raton were on Anna Maria Island last week to inspect the borrow area for the planned renourishment of Coquina Beach beginning in January next year or February. Manatee County Natural Resources Department director Charlie Hunsicker said the team was performing a biological assessment at the borrow area, which is off the north end of the Island. The team also will assess rocks near the perpendicular jetties on Coquina Beach. The arrival of the team is the “steady progression toward beach renourishment of Coquina Beach,” Hunsicker said. There has been a lot of erosion at Coquina Beach the past decade, he said, and this renourishment project has been planned for several years. Divers studied both the borrow area and the rocks near the Coquina jetties to determine how much damage the renourishment project might cause to the structures. Hunsicker said the plan is to build a limestone reef offshore of Coquina Beach as mitigation for any damage to the rocks or borrow area. “The divers and surveyors will take their data back to begin the construction plans” for the reef, Hunsicker said.