P.E.I. lost average of 40 cm of shoreline from 2018 to 2019, survey suggests

The Island's shoreline eroded an average of about 40 centimetres from 2018 to 2019, according to data collected by researchers at UPEI.

By comparison, the average annual loss from 1968 to 2010 was only 28 centimetres.

The new data was collected last summer through measurements taken at about 100 sites across the province.

The survey also found at more than 10 sites, like Argyle Shore, Cable Head and East Point, the shoreline had eroded by more than a metre.

Adam Fenech, director of the climate lab at UPEI, said areas susceptible to erosion, especially ones with infrastructure, are a cause for concern.

"Be it a home or a cottage or a lighthouse or a road or a wind turbine, that these things when they're in these areas where the erosion is happening, are threatened," he said.

'Protect them or move them'

"We either have to protect them or move them or they're going to be lost to sea."

Erosion is a natural occurrence due to the Island's sandstone composition, but Fenech said they're noticing more because of rising sea levels, and the loss of ice cover on the North Shore to protect it from winter storms.

The climate lab measures the erosion using permanent pins placed into the ground, and with the help of drones. It is collecting data for the 2019-to-2020 coastal changes survey this summer.

More from CBC P.E.I.