PANAJI
About seven per cent of Goa’s coastline has been eroding in the last 31 years while only 26 per cent of the coast is in stable condition. This was revealed by the Chennai based National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) through its latest study.
The NCSCM had undertaken a shoreline change assessment of Goa coast through satellite images. The shoreline change assessment represents long-term shoreline change for a period of 31 years from 1990 to 2021.
“Shoreline change analysis for long-term trend reveals that about 7 per cent of Goa coast is eroding, about 10 per cent of the coast has accretion and 26 per cent is stable,” NCSCM said.
Shoreline change rates were calculated for 588 transect that covers a length of about 172 km.
The analysis shows that Goa does not have a high and medium erosion zone. The entire seven per cent erosion is under lower category. Also about 0.98 per cent of the coast is artificially protected by seawalls. Around 56 per cent of the coast is rocky.
The agency said that different shoreline proxies such as vegetation line, berm line, high water line, structures, dune vegetation line and rocky coast for evaluating the shoreline positions were considered.
The State government last month appointed, NCSCM to investigate the causes for changing shoreline pattern and is been asked to submit the report within eight months.
Meanwhile, the shoreline change research by NCSCM was taken up to quantify shoreline changes along the coast of India, using Indian remote sensing satellite covering States like Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
“The principal component of mapping shoreline positions is to ascertain the seaward movement (erosion) and landward movement (accretion) due to evolving climatic and anthropogenic influences. This provides a framework for monitoring shoreline movement, identifying coastal hazard zones and formulate policies for regulation of coastal development,” the authority said.
