India's beaches are disappearing

DW (English)

Coastal erosion is reshaping India's shores, threatening fishing villages and bustling tourist hubs like Puducherry. And what makes it worse – much of the erosion is manmade. Is there a way to reverse the damage?

Transcript

00:00The ocean is powerful, with every wave it pulls more sand away.

00:05On the east coast of India, near Puducherry, fishermen watch as the shoreline continues

00:10to change.

00:11The transformation has devastating consequences for their lives.

00:22We can't bring our boats to shore.

00:24Now we dock them farther away because the waves are even reaching the houses near the

00:28shore.

00:29In the past year, only 20 out of 100 boats in the village have been able to go out to

00:34the sea.

00:35If they can't get their boats to shore, Arumugam and the other fishers in Pillaichavadi can't

00:43get their fish to shore either.

00:46That now happens often.

00:48Coastal erosion has damaged many homes, and their fishing shelter has been destroyed too.

00:56We stored our nets there.

00:58Each net cost the equivalent of about 1600 euros.

01:05And we lost seven of them.

01:06The government promised to give us compensation, but we haven't received anything yet.

01:17It is the women who sell the fish, but the fish market was also swallowed by the sea,

01:21so they now sell on the streets instead.

01:24But erosion isn't the only problem affecting fish stocks.

01:28Studies show overfishing and rising sea temperatures are also driving fish numbers down.

01:37It's not like before.

01:38Nowadays, we're only getting small amounts of fish, as you see from our sales today.

01:44For many fishing families, life on the coast has become a struggle to survive.

01:51The changing climate only adds to that.

01:54Extreme weather events like tropical storms are becoming more frequent, and rising sea

01:58levels are threatening more and more towns.

02:05In Puducherry, just north of Pillaichavadi, beach erosion is also a problem.

02:10The coastal city attracts nearly 2 million tourists a year, drawn by its beautiful beaches.

02:16But those beaches are gradually disappearing.

02:19Over 56% of Puducherry's coastline is affected by erosion, according to a 2022 report by

02:25India's National Centre for Coastal Research.

02:28Here though, the problem isn't just natural, it's also man-made.

02:33The expansion of the harbour has played a big role.

02:37The construction of that harbour interfered with the natural movement of sand, the movement

02:43of water, currents, waves, and then, of course, the sand, which then disrupted this natural

02:48equilibrium and started creating erosion on one side.

02:55Audiophilius Chiavena has been involved in coastal protection for many years.

02:59He co-founded the NGO Pondy Can, and has spent over a decade documenting how the coastline

03:05around the harbour has changed.

03:09The harbour was built in the late 1990s, and along with it, many barriers, known as groynes.

03:17Groynes essentially are designed to block the sand.

03:20The whole purpose of a groyne is to retain sand.

03:23Now, on a coastline, where the natural process is that sand moves along the coastline, if

03:31you create a blockage of sand, you are bound to create erosion on the other, you are going

03:35to disrupt that equilibrium.

03:37As a result, surrounding beaches have suffered great erosion.

03:41In 2017, Pondy Can partnered with the National Institute of Ocean Technology to restore the

03:46lost beach on Puducherry's main promenade.

03:50They introduced gentle coastal protection methods that take nature into greater consideration.

03:57You take sand from the place where there is excess sand, so in this case, in the harbour

04:02and south of the harbour, and the northern side of the town where the erosion is happening

04:06needs sand, so there's a shortage of sand.

04:09It's no rocket science, so you just have to bring the sand from one place where it's not

04:13needed to the other place where it's needed.

04:16So that's called sand bypassing, sand nourishment.

04:19So that's the heart of the project.

04:23To allow the sand to move naturally, they built and submerged an artificial reef shaped

04:28like a wedge.

04:29And it worked.

04:30The promenade slowly recovered.

04:32After 7 years, the beach is now about 1.5 meters wide, even at high tide.

04:38But with the harbour still in place, maintaining the beach is an ongoing task.

04:44This hasn't helped the fishermen in Palaichavadi.

04:47But another project might.

04:49The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute has been building artificial reefs along the

04:53coast.

04:54In the fishing village of Kuvalam, near Chennai, north of Puducherry, two artificial reefs

05:00have been built over the past 8 years.

05:07Devaan has been fishing here for 45 years.

05:10Since the reefs were installed, his catch has doubled.

05:15There is always fish.

05:22The artificial reef gives the fish a new home.

05:24And they breed there.

05:25It's very useful.

05:27A similar artificial reef is soon planned for the coast of Palaichavadi.

05:35While it may not stop erosion, it offers hope for improving the fish stocks for these communities.

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