KOCHI: The Ministry of Ports has now decided to demolish parts of the sea wall in the state owing to protests from fishermen organisations. Over the years successive governments, both at the centre and the state have spent crores of tax-payers’ money on building and maintaining sea walls across the coast. In fact more than 50 per cent of the country’s coastline is now locked behind these walls. Moreover, if the budget proposals are anything to go by, then sea wall construction in the country is not coming to an end anytime soon.Out of the total length of 560Km of coastal line in the state, 331.80 Km is already within sea walls. While the 50 crores commissioned in the Eleventh Finance Commission could construct 12.70 km of new seawall and reform 28.63 Km, twelfth five year plan has increased the anti-erosion expenditure to 175 crores. Though the latest protests against the sea walls in the state has been against the death of fishermen owing to the wreckage of fishing boats as they hit the sea walls, the protest against sea wall has been an on going issue. “You can never stop the sea by building stone walls, it’s just unscientific” says, President, Kerala Swatantra Matsya Thozhilali Federation, T Peter. Protection and security of the fisher folk has been one of the key arguments in favour of the sea walls. But fishermen like T. Peter feel differently. “Most of the funds come from centrally sponsored schemes and the programme is implemented by the irrigation department. As such many of these lack practicality at the ground level. The estimated coast of a one km sea walling is 5 and half crores. With one fourth this amount you can give decent housing and rehabilitate fisher folk to interior areas. This would have given them protection against sea erosion,” he says.Scientists also believe that apart from being highly expensive, sea walls are also ecologically unviable. “Building sea walls can have adversarial affects on the adjoining coastal areas. There is a regular movement of sand away and onto it. Once you prevent this natural movement of sand from one area, then the adjoining area will face excess erosion. The coastline between Allappey and Kochi is one example of such erosion. In fact, in the last 20 years the intensity of erosion has been on the rise,” says, Vice- Chancellor, Kerala Fisheries and Ocean Studies University, Madhusoodana Kurup. So how does one stop the sea erosion?Mangrove afforestation is one of the few ways to reduce the erosion.Kerala has a few spots where there is a natural Mangrove vegetation, one of them is in the Puthuvypeen area in Kochi. “It’s now been scientifically proved that Puthuvypeen was saved from the Tsunami only because of the Mangroves there. Apart from being natural, they also provide numerous benefits for the fishing industry. Mangroves are harbingers of a variety of fishes like Shrimps, Molusks etc. Aqua culture is another industry which the fishermen can take advantage of. Ecologically too they reduce the green house effect and global warming,” says Professor K S Kurushan, Expert Member, Kerala State Fishermen’s Debt Relief Commission, who has presented papers on Mangroves in Kerala.But even though, Mangroves are one of the best solution, they cannot be grown everywhere. They require specific tidal configuration, brackish water etc. “But there are numerous other ways. Planting Casuarina trees or Mango can also be used as anti-erosion agents as well as wind breakers. But there is no willingness to implement these because there is the Sand Mafia and the irrigation Mafia at play. As long as this lobbying takes place, there will be more and more stone walls as well,” says T Peter.
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