Fishermen in Kerala live on edge as coastal erosion destroys homes Premium

Kerala's eroding coasts have rendered fisherfolk refugees in their own land. Monsoon season brings an increase in danger, with coastal erosion destroying homes and forcing families to evacuate. Solutions like seawalls have only worsened the situation, while the State Action Plan on Climate Change warns of further coastal flooding and erosion.

On Sunday, the sun finally came out after a long week of squally weather and rough seas. Soggy footwear, plastic bottles filled with dirty seawater, food wrappers, and broken thermocol pieces littered the narrow, concrete road hugging the crumbling seawall at Poonthura, a fishing village situated five km from Thiruvananthapuram city.

‘‘The waves threw back all this junk. Two days ago, you could not even stand here like this. The sea was all over the place,’‘ Oliver, 52, a stocky fisherman who has a one-room-plus-kitchen setup nearby, says pointing to the detritus. 

Also read | Climate vagaries to blame for coastal erosion: studies

The walls of Oliver’s home, and that of many others along the zig-zagging road, remain damp to the touch from the salty spray. The granite boulders, piled high  decades ago in this part of coastal Thiruvananthapuram, today offer scant protection during the two monsoon seasons lasting from June to December. To the north and south, some 70 or so metres apart, remnants of rock groynes poke out ineffectually into the sea like mutilated fingers. 

The first strong spell of the 2023 southwest monsoon season, which lashed Kerala in the first week of July, has turned the spotlight back on the State’s eroding coasts and the plight of those who live on the beaches. 

In recent decades, coastal erosion has rendered fisherfolk from Kerala’s nine coastal districts, refugees in their own land. The State has a 592.96-km-long coastline. Of this, 46.4%, or 275.33 km, is impacted by erosion, according to the National Assessment of Shoreline Changes along Indian Coast (Volume 2 - West Coast) published in March 2022 by the National Centre for Coastal Research, a Ministry of Earth Sciences agency.

Only 30.8% (182.64 km) of the Kerala coast is deemed ‘stable,’ while accretion was reported in the remaining 22.8% (134.99 km). The remaining length of India’s west coast is largely ‘stable,’ according to this report.