Times News Network

Mangalore, Jun 8: Scientists here are of the opinion that any sea wall is a futile exercise and will affect the coastal environment badly, even as the Rs 170-crore proposal to construct one along the erosion-prone areas of the coastal district is awaiting the Centre’s clearance. The best option, they say, is to relocate inhabitants on the shore and leave nature alone, to do its work.

Eminent scientist and former Principal of Poorna Prajna College at Udupi, Prof Madhyastha, says it is practically impossible to check a natural phenomenon like sea erosion. He told that “any effort to construct the sea wall is not ecologically sustainable and economically viable. If the sea wall is constructed in one particular place, the waves erode other areas more vigorously. In conclusion, a sea wall is viable if constructed all along the West Coast from Kerala to Gujarat”.

He said it was possible to gauge the force of the sea waves and even if the sea wall is constructed along the coastal belt it could hardly stand. The walls may remain only if it was constructed as a massive structure like one built at Marine Drive in Mumbai and maintained regularly, he said. “But, is it economically viable?” he asked.

Madhyasta expressed fears that any such effort would result in loss of natural beaches and destroy the rich coastal bio-diversity. The West Coast was rich in certain rare species like terns, gulls and the fiddler craft known as the “scavengers of the seashore.”

Also the West Coast attracts migratory birds like sandpipers, dunlin and scanderling, which come here from Europe. Sustenance of all these species depends on the natural sea shores. Once the walls are constructed along the sea there would be no natural shore and these species would be affected, he said.

Madhyastha is of the opinion that sea shores are very dynamic and erosion was becoming more prominent due to human intervention like construction of buildings close to the shore, excessive sand mining on the shore and catchment areas that was affecting the dynamic nature of the sea. Besides, due to the greenhouse effect, the level of the sea was rising, he said.

Suggesting a solution to the problem, he said the only viable solution was vacating the fishermen from the shore and shifting them to the safer places. If the CRZ regulation was implemented strictly, seashores can be made free from the human encroachment, he said.