Rapid coastal erosion could force a Mid West marine rescue hub to relocate by the end of the year.
Storm and wind damage has resulted in the loss of about 15 metres of coastline around Marine Rescue Geraldton's Point Moore base in the past six months.
Owned by the volunteer rescue group, the centre was built with the assistance of grant funding and is managed by the City of Greater Geraldton.
Stakeholders will explore techniques to prevent further coastline loss, but the base must be moved if the site becomes unsafe for use.
Marine Rescue Geraldton commander Damien Healy said waves had broken past Hell's Gate and into the beach.
He said the rescue base was now less than 12m from the water's edge.
"I wasn't part of when they chose the location, but it seemed pretty safe because even two years ago we were still about 100m from the water," he said.
"The erosion hasn't impacted the base before, but right now it is pretty extreme.
"It's only in the past few weeks that we have just watched the sand dunes in front of us disappear."
Rapid loss
Mr Healy said every effort would be made to save the site, with Point Moore being the ideal location for the marine rescue base.
"The location was chosen for the radio antenna position because it was in a really good position north and south of [Geraldton]," he said.
"For rescues around Point Moore, we can actually see what's going on.
"There are also times when kite surfers get in trouble and people come up the beach and come to our building."
An average of 2.5m of coastline was being lost outside the hub every month and Mr Healy said the marine rescue group was also starting to explore alternative locations.
He said the loss of the site would be a blow to volunteers who spent "thousands of hours" fundraising for the building.
"It is quite distressing," he said.
"It is a beautiful building that has only just relatively recently been renovated an extended."
In a report being presented to the local council next week, City of Greater Geraldton manager of engineering services Michael Dufour said strategies to protect the rescue base using rock revetment or geosynthetic groynes had been considered.
But he said it was "unlikely that any protection measures will provide the desired result" and could cause other downstream erosion effects.
His report recommended the application for state and federal funding if a new marine rescue building was required.
