Are we all waiting until Unawatuna bay is washed away?
View(s):Unawatuna beach is renowned for its natural beauty and safe swimming all year round.
Then: Unawatuna’s beautiful bay
A year ago the two kilometre swim to the island reef, directly south from the base of the horse-shoe shaped bay, was through deep water.
I swim every day, weather permitting. The azure blue water of the Indian Ocean, sometimes cloudy from the churn of the current, reveals the true extent of the effect of the man-made breakwater. Running long, wide and deep down to the ocean floor, across the western side of the mouth of the bay, its existence has altered the ebb and flow of the sea that washes around the bay.
Now I can clearly see the ocean floor as far as the island reef and the water is warmer. The bay is slowly but surely filling up with sand. The western side of the bay which ends with the spectacular headland, has a long spit of sand, forming day by day. In contrast, the eastern side that runs through to the mid-point of the horse-shoe; roughly half of the total area of the beach, is being eroded at an alarming rate.
Only a rock fortification, hastily constructed in the last few months by the Coastal Conservation Department, is holding back the complete destruction of half of the shore line. The aesthetic balance of the bay and the safe swimming has been destroyed.
Not enough has been written about Unawatuna Beach and the fate that has befallen it. The media, the Tourist Board, the Tourist Industry, the agents of conservation and ecology, the oceanographers and government bodies have kept quiet, shown indifference or given hollow assurances
New: Destruction, day by day
of rectification.
Only the businesses directly affected; the local fishermen and the sellers of local craft have put their heads above the invisible parapet wall and protested and lobbied for something to be done.
And now, as I see returnee guests scratch their heads in disbelief at what they find and witness a once thriving community lose its livelihood. As I watch beachcombers, locals and tourists stumble across uneven, slippery rocks, sometime avoiding dangerous waves to get to the other end of the bay, my anxiety for the future stability of the bay increases daily.
Sand is being pumped to cover our rock strewn shore line. This is a short term solution. With the current so strong and the unseasonal rain lashing the shore, the sand will inevitably be washed away. The root of the problem should be addressed first, before public money is spent. Rumour, speculation, uncertainty, uneasiness and fatalism pervade. Talk of creating breaks in the breakwater, building groins and growing natural sea defences swirl around us like the ocean that simultaneously nourishes and destroys our livelihoods.
One thing is for certain. Unawatuna Bay’s beauty remains undiminished. This natural treasure should be cherished by the nation, nurtured and protected. We all ignore Unawatuna Bay’s future at our peril.
-Paloma Scott from Unawatuna