Beach scraping uses mechanical equipment to scrape sand from the lower part of the beach up to or just below the sand dune. Beach scraping is only a temporary measure to try to protect upland property during a storm. A Maine DEP permit is required for beach scraping, and additional restrictions may be imposed in terms of timing (typically between April 1 and September 1) by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Beach nourishment is defined as the artificial addition of sand, gravel or other similar natural material to a beach or subtidal area adjacent to a beach and is governed by the Coastal Sand Dune Rules.

Beach nourishment can be an effective, temporary response to coastal erosion, though it tends to be costly, and its effectiveness is generally short-lived (5 years or less), especially in areas with high erosion rates. Generally, there are two sources of material in Maine that have been used for beach nourishment:

1. “beneficial reuse” of dredged material, usually in conjunction with a federal (US Army Corps of Engineers) dredging project of navigable waterways; and
2. upland sourcing of material, typically from a gravel pit, where trucks are used to transport material from an upland source to the beach.

Generally, if the US Army Corps dredges a project and the material is considered to be clean, beach-compatible sand, the 

beneficial reuse of dredged materials as beach nourishment is encouraged. If beach nourishment is considered to be a least 

cost alternative for disposal of the dredged material, the costs of dredging and material placement are borne by the federal government. If not, some cost-matching by a local sponsor (typically the receiving community) is required for the Corps to proceed with a project.

Private beach nourishment projects using dredged material – either from an adjacent river channel or other offshore source – have not been undertaken in Maine. One of the reasons for this is cost: finding, dredging, and transporting material can run between $10-20 per cubic yard of sand, depending on source and its proximity to the nourishment site.