Coastal Erosion and Its Prevention along the Coast of Goa: A Field Survey of Ten Beaches

Until the 1970s the Goan coast was largely unspoilt, but tourism, population growth and construction have since crowded the shore. This paper reports a field survey of ten beaches in North Goa, Miramar, Candolim, Calangute, Anjuna, Morjim, Mandrem, Arambol, Querim, Ashwem and Vainguinim, which recorded the state of each beach, the protection measures in place and how they performed, from site visits and conversations with local residents. Erosion was reported at seven of the ten beaches. Hard structures failed or performed poorly at several sites: the seawall at Miramar was damaged by wave pressure, and the geotubes at Candolim burst. The beaches that were stable had vegetation and dunes that were left in place. The study is observational and has no measured shoreline-change data, so its findings are qualitative.