Panaji, Jul 21 (IANS): Goa Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte has said that sea erosion has become a major threat for the tourism industry, which needs to be tackled with new concepts.

"There is the challenge of sea erosion. It is a threat (to the tourism industry) the way it is taking place. Beaches are getting washed out. We have given permission to 346 shacks, however they are not able to occupy longer distance (in permissible limit), as beaches have washed out," Khaunte said during the ongoing Assembly session.

He said that it was very important to think about how we stop this sea erosion. "We can adopt technologies to ensure that we get our surface back. Techno-commercial concepts can be adopted with the help of the environment and other departments," he said.

Speaking about the menace of littered glass water bottles and broken glass bottles on the seashore, Khaunte said that this is another challenge that the department has to address.

"There are several rules, despite the fact that the bottles (of liquor) reach the beaches. This should be stopped," he said.

He said that foreigners come to beaches early in the morning to practice Yoga and also locals come for morning walk, hence beaches should be cleaned early morning. "We need to improvise on this," he said.

"We will get our own security force to act against the illegal activities taking place. We need to ensure that law is abided," he said.

Goa Congress MLA Kedar Naik recently had expressed concern that the European tourists have stopped visiting famous Coco beach due to soil erosion and hence locals are facing issues of income source. He had said that this beach had washed out and had demanded that the beach by taking measures.