Fishermen want government to take steps to prevent sea erosion first instead of focusing on blue flag beaches

The fishermen have demanded the State government to take steps to check and prevent sea erosion along the 1000-odd km of coastline instead of announcing blue flag beaches.

“Around 450 km of our coast has been affected by sea erosion, which translates to some 200 plus fishing villages being affected. This is a more pressing matter as homes are being lost to battering waves. There are places where the sea is just a few metres away,” said K. Bharathi, a community leader.

The Greater Chennai Corporation had recently announced that blue flag beaches would come up at five more places in the city. “When a blue flag beaches come up, fishermen are not allowed to use those stretches to park their boats or store nets. At Kovalam, we have seen that these facilities including the sea front, toilets and changing rooms are only for tourists,” explained Kabaddi Maran, another community leader.

Kosu. Mani, another community leader, said global warming and sea level rising is very much a reality and immediate long and short-term steps need to be taken to protect the entire coastline. “As weather patterns change, we are losing sandy beaches and fishers have nowhere to go as our villages are small, they don’t expand. How much inland can we move,” he asked.

Fishermen have been worried over loss of homes and of livelihoods and have been demanding a comprehensive study in which their inputs are also taken into consideration. “Plans involving our people do not have our inputs. In many villages the rock walls formed to prevent the advancing waves have failed to function,” Ethiraj, a fisher leader pointed out.