A small seaside community is sceptical yet hopeful that a plan to dump thousands of tonnes of sand off the coast will help restore their disappearing beach.

Surfside on the NSW far south coast was among the coastal areas battered during severe storms that inundated several properties in April.

A major dredging operation at the nearby Clyde River is currently underway in a bid to clear the channel for boats, but also dump the sand off the beach so it is washed back onshore.

Craig Lyttle, who was one of the residents impacted by flooding earlier this year, has noticed the erosion at Surfside Beach worsen over time.

He hoped the dredging operation would help, but time will tell. 

"The people who have lived here long-term have been fighting for something to be done along Surfside Beach for well over 15 years," he said.

"We had about 20 metres of land out the back to the dune on the beach, and that's been eroded back to about six metres."

Dredging the channel

The dredging operation, led by Transport for New South Wales, is estimated to take four weeks.

Approximately 30,000 cubic metres of sand will be placed 600 metres offshore from Surfside Beach.

The aim is for the sand to be washed ashore using the ocean current and waves.

A similar operation was completed in 2019, but this time the project is part of a collaboration with the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

"We have given them (TFNSW) an estimate of how much sand transport occurs after they dump their materials in certain locations," said Professor Xiao Hua Wang, a lead researcher in estuarine and coastal oceanography.

Residents were sceptical that this approach would work, but are happy to watch and wait.

"We think that the sand will just migrate its way up the Clyde River and probably end up choking the mouth of the Clyde," Mr Lyttle said.

Locals have questioned why the sand could not be placed directly onto the beach.

But Transport for NSW said it was not possible because the vessel was unable to come to the shore.

"In this case, in terms of the cost and the practicalities and getting that sand there, it was proving to be very difficult and very expensive," Kim Bowra from Transport for NSW said.

"Common practice with dredging disposing of material is placing it in the near-shore."

Professor Wang will next study the sand movements to understand the cause of the significant erosion at Surfside Beach.

"Our study shows that beach erosion in the eastern section of Surfside appears to have been accelerated in the last five to six years," he said.

Beach scraping

Along with the dredging, the Eurobodalla Shire Council has completed a "beach-scraping" project, which is the process of moving sand to rebuild the dune.

"This involved getting a bulldozer down on the beach and moving sand from the intertidal area … and pushing it back up to form the dune again," said Eurobodalla Shire Council's natural resources coordinator, Heidi Thomson.

"We realise it is not a permanent solution."

Three thousand native coastal species were planted over the weekend to help stabilise the beach.