As Summer Nears, Seacoast Grapples With Extended COVID-19 Beach Closures

A few pedestrians and cyclists cross the closed parking lot at Jenness State Beach in Rye on May 3. (Annie Ropeik/NHPR)

When New Hampshire reopens parts of its economy in the next couple of weeks, the public beaches on the Seacoast will stay closed. It’s sparked debate in seaside towns like Rye over what restrictions are warranted.

Last Sunday, on the first warm weekend of spring, the coastal Route 1A or Ocean Boulevard in Rye looked almost like nothing unusual was going on. There was a steady crawl of cars with windows down, motorcycles revving their engines, cyclists and pedestrians on the seawall.

Rye Police Chief Kevin Walsh was out patrolling, trying to keep people off of the beaches and out of barricaded parking areas.

“Until people start to follow the mitigation plan, it’s not going to be healthy for us to open the beaches,” Walsh says.

In the past couple months, Walsh says his department has given out more than 260 parking tickets, plus 21 moving violations and, most recently, a handful of trespass notices for people on the sand.

He’s been especially frustrated to see so many drivers from Massachusetts, which, like New Hampshire, is under a stay-at-home order in an effort to combat the spread of COVID-19.

“If you’re supposed to be sheltering in place and staying in your own neighborhoods – please think of somebody else,” Walsh says.

But not everyone thinks these closures are fair. Erik Cannon is a surfer from nearby Hampton. He says the state should treat the Seacoast beaches the same way as its other parks, which are still open.

“Getting outside and exercising has been listed as essential activity throughout this process. We just want to be able to practice our form of exercise, whether it’s going for a walk on the beach, a run on the beach, going surfing, going swimming,” Cannon says. “All of those, we look at as part of the reasons why we chose to live on the Seacoast. How is that different than what anyone else is doing?”

Read the rest of this story at NHPR’s website.