ecoRI News — Shoreline Study Commission Mulls Change to Lateral Beach Access

The swash line, or seaweed line, is a damp sand and shell line with debris. (ResearchGate)

Jan 29, 2022

By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff

PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island beachgoers could find themselves with extra room to enjoy the Ocean State’s shoreline next summer.

The House special commission studying lateral shoreline access is winding down its work, and most of its members agree the boundary between public shore and private property needs to change.

“The current mean high watermark isn’t practical for the public and property owners,” said Save The Bay’s Topher Hamblett. “The swash line seems to be the practical way of dealing with it.”

Commission members seem to be homing in on the swash line, also known as the wrack line or seaweed line, created when the high tide washes seaweed onto the beach. A longtime favorite boundary of the state’s shoreline access, it carries the benefit of almost always being easily identifiable.

The special legislative commission was created last year to solve an annual conflict as steady as the tides: how to balance private property rights with the public’s right to access the shore. The Rhode Island Constitution guarantees the rights of its citizens “to enjoy and freely exercise all rights of fishery, and privileges of the shore.”

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