Officials eye Andaman coastal erosion

The Marine and Coastal Resources Department is formulating plans to tackle coastal erosion in six Andaman Sea provinces.

The most severe erosion was found in Tambon Saladan on Krabi's Koh Lanta, where five metres of coastline a year is disappearing, specialist Vudhichai Janekarn said yesterday.

Other hard-hit areas are Phang Nga's Laem Pakarang-Ban Lha-on in Takua Pa district and Trang's Pak Meng Beach in Sikao district.

Presenting the 2011-September 2012 survey data in a meeting at Krabi City Hall, Vudhichai identified 57 coastal-erosion hotspots along the 1,093-kilometre Andaman coast - 45 locations on the mainland and 12 on islands in Krabi, Trang, Phang Nga, Phuket, Ranong and Satun.

He proposed the building of coastal-protection barriers to lessen the severity of the erosion. An advisory committee was looking into ways of constructing durable barriers out of material that could be found locally, had low maintenance costs and would be accepted by residents.