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?
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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.