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A very unusual ‘groin’, the MV River Princess, Goa, India and its impacts upon tourism

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Abstract

On June 6, 2000, the Merchant Vessel River Princess – dead weight 114,645 tonnes and 261 m in length, grounded on the beach off the Candolim-Sinquerim coast, Goa, India, spilling some 40 tonnes of oil. In the past 10 years it has settled some 10 m into the sea bed and taken in circa 40,000 tonnes of sand. Until the ‘60’s the Goan economy centered on agriculture and fishing with very low key recreation. Over the last three decades it has become heavily reliant upon recreation, with 13 % of GDP arising from this sector. Nine million cubic metres of littoral drift occurs off this beach per annum, with the longshore current broken by rips into a series of circulating cells. The vessel acts as a massive groin so much so that downdrift, erosion of approximately 5 to 10 m/annum (dependent on the monsoon strength) is occurring at the Taj hotel site. Satellite imagery has shown that some 0.13 km2 beach loss has occurred since 2001. Downdrift, the beach is circa 20 m wide compared to updrift areas where it exceeds 100 m. Embryo tombola growth has now commenced between shore and ship. In addition to this, the dune system is now seriously out of equilibrium and sand bags, geotextiles etc. are currently in use to combat dune foot erosion. Questionnaires (n = 111) showed that 37 % of beach users ranked erosion as the top coastal problem. Sixty seven percent of beach users rated scenery as the most important quality of a beach and due to the grounded ship, >60 % rated the scenery as below average, as well as viewing the ship as a source of danger for swimming purposes.

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Acknowledgments

International Coral Reef Standard Ltd would like to thank the generous co-operation of all employees of Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, with a special mention to the strategic foresight shown by Taj’s Managing Director, Mr. Raymond Bickson, and the on-going collaboration and assistance of his management team, Mr. Sumit Guha, Mr. Jamshed Daboo, Mr. Rakesh Kumar, Mr. Rohan Gopaldas and Ms. Jessica Rebello. We also express our gratitude for the onsite hospitality extended to all our team by the Taj Resort Manager in Goa, Ian Dubier and all his staff.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Swansea Metropolitan University, Mount Pleasant, Swansea, SA2 6ED, Wales, UK

    A. T. Williams

  2. International Coral Reef Standard, 8 Worcester Terrace, Bristol, BS8 3JW, UK

    M. Layton-Brown & M. Conneely

  3. University of South Wales, Pontypridd, CF37 4AT, Wales, UK

    R. Morgan

Authors
  1. A. T. Williams
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  2. M. Layton-Brown
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  3. M. Conneely
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  4. R. Morgan
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Correspondence to R. Morgan.

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Williams, A.T., Layton-Brown, M., Conneely, M. et al. A very unusual ‘groin’, the MV River Princess, Goa, India and its impacts upon tourism. J Coast Conserv 18, 221–226 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-014-0309-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-014-0309-0

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