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Breaking waves and broken lives: Kovalam Artificial Reef project

The resort town of Kovalam is Kerala’s most popular beach destination and has been attracting large numbers of foreign tourists since the 1970s. Fortunately, Kovalam - like most of Kerala’s coastal resorts - was not adversely affected by the tsunami. This was something that the local tourism department, Kerala Tourism, was keen to promote, advertising the southern Indian state as a ‘safe option’ and ‘open for business’ just days after the monster wave struck.

Since then, Kerala Tourism has been marketing Kovalam as an international, year-round surfing destination and is eager to tap into this multi-billion dollar global industry. As such, Kerala Tourism has secured funds to construct a 500-meter artificial reef at a cost of 40 million rupees (almost half a million pounds), making Kovalam the first specialist surfing and wave sport destination in India.

However, the money for this project comes from the central government Tsunami Rehabilitation Programme (TRP) fund. According to government guidelines, this fund is meant for rebuilding the lives and livelihoods of tsunami-affected communities and for repairing tsunami-damaged infrastructure.

Local fishing communities are furious that money meant for their rehabilitation has been earmarked for tourism projects that will, paradoxically, adversely affect their livelihoods. The Kovalam reef project stands to negatively impact hundreds of coastal and fishing peoples - already among Kerala's most marginalised and underprivileged sectors of society. The Independent Fishworker’s Federation (KSMTF) estimates that up to 500 fishermen will lose their livelihoods, and point out that a fish breeding ground created by the reef will be used for sport fishing by tourists and will not benefit local fishing folk.

Adding to their outrage is Kerala Tourism’s recent re-labeling of the reef project, along with 19 other tourism projects to be funded with TRP funds, as a ‘coastal protection’ scheme. “The tourism minister had said earlier that tsunami funds would be used for the beautification of beaches… After protests from the coastal communities, they are doing the same thing under the name of ‘coastal protection’. This is clear diversion of tsunami funds for projects that are not at all beneficial to the coastal communities”, said Mr T. Peter, President of KSMTF.

The tourism department claims that the artificial reef, constructed out of giant geo-textile bags filled with sand, will provide coastal protection by blocking waves with a height of more than one meter. However, the scientific merits of such technology remain unproven. KSMTF is also concerned that, even if the artificial reef does break large waves headed for Kovalam, these could be diverted towards neighbouring fishing villages, causing heightened erosion and possible infrastructural damage there.

Kerala’s tourism department has been marketing the state as a ‘responsible tourism’ destination and recently selected a number of resorts to showcase its credentials. Despite a boom of unregulated tourism developments in Kovalam, leading to various problems of pollution and overcrowding, the town has been selected as one of the showcase resorts. As part of the initiative, a local-level responsible tourism committee has been set up to help improve tourism practices in the area. According to Kerala Tourism’s own responsible tourism guidelines, the committee is comprised of key local stakeholders and is to be involved in the discussion, planning and monitoring of all tourism level activities in their locality. All tourism projects are to be participatory. Despite these impressive proclamations, Kovalam’s responsible tourism committee has reportedly not been involved or consulted on the artificial reef or any of the other beach beautification plans for Kovalam.

Local campaigning groups opposed to the reef project are calling for a careful, evidence-based assessment of the potential social, economic and environmental impacts of the reef before construction goes ahead. Their calls have so far been ignored by both the state and national government, as have protestations about the legality of funding tourism projects in areas not damaged by the 2004 tsunami with TRP funds.

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