Nearly a 3rd of the country’s coastline has fallen a prey to erosion in a period of 28 years

Details on coastline erosion and expansion in India

Friday, 20th August 2021

Nearly 32 per cent of the coastline of the country has been subject to sea erosion while 27 per cent of the coastline has expanded between the Year 1999 and Year 2018 as per the latest report from the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences.

The coastline of West Bengal has suffered the maximum erosion: 60 per cent of the state’s coastline had been eroded during the above mentioned period. Next was Puducherry (56 per cent erosion); then Kerala and Tamil Nadu (both 41 per cent); next Andhra Pradesh (28 per cent erosion); followed by Gujarat including the Daman and Diu (26 per cent); next Odisha (26 per cent); then Karnataka (24 per cent); Maharashtra (22 per cent); and then Goa (19 per cent).

The coastline of Odisha underwent expansion by about 51 per cent. Next was the coastal belt of Andhra Pradesh which has expanded by 48 per cent, followed by Karnataka at 26 per cent, then West Bengal at 25 per cent. Next was Tamil Nadu at 22 per cent, followed by Kerala (21 per cent expansion rate); Gujarat including the Daman and Diu (20 per cent expansion rate); Goa (14 per cent expansion rate; Maharashtra (10 per cent rate of expansion) and finally Puducherry at 8 per cent expansion rate.

The coastline of the country has a length of about 6,631.53 kilometres: about 2,135.65 kilometres suffered varying rates of erosion while 1,760.06 km of coastline expanded across the same time period. About 2,700 km of the Indian coastline is in a stable state.  

The info was tabled by Union MinisterParshottamRupala, Minister of Fisheries, Animal, Husbandry and Dairying as an answer to a query inLokSabhaon August 10th, 2021.

About 98 coastal pockets of India have been subject to sea erosion. The state of Tamil Nadu has 26 vulnerable coastal pockets, followed by the states of West Bengal (16 pockets); Kerala (12 pockets); Maharashtra (8 pockets); Gujarat including the Daman and Diu (8 pockets); Karnataka (7 pockets);  Andhra Pradesh (6 pockets); Odisha (5 pockets); Goa (3 pockets) and finallyPuducherry (3 pockets), stated the minister.

Some expenses of the country’s shoreline have suffered varying degrees of erosion because of natural causes or due to anthropogenic activities. The erosion of the coast does influence the coastal communities including the fishermen communities who mainly reside in those erosion-prone pockets.

The News Talkie Bureau

Source:

Downtoearth