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.
