Marina Beach
Marina Beach, or simply the Marina, is a natural urban beach in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, along the Bay of Bengal. The beach runs from near Fort St. George in the north to Foreshore Estate in the south, a distance of, making it the second longest urban beach in the world, after Cox's Bazar Beach. It is a prominent landmark in Chennai.
The Marina is a primarily sandy beach, with an average width of and the width at the widest stretch is. Bathing and swimming at the Marina are legally prohibited because of the dangers, as the undercurrent is very turbulent. It is one of the most crowded beaches in the country and attracts about 30,000 visitors a day during weekdays and 50,000 visitors a day during the weekends and on holidays. During summer months, about 15,000 to 20,000 people visit the beach daily.
History
Before the 16th century, there were frequent incident of inundation of land near the coast due to rise in sea level. When the sea withdrew, several ridges and lagoons were left behind. On the southern side of Fort St. George, one such sand ridge ran from the mouth of the Cooum River to the present site of the Presidency College. On the rear side of the ridge was a huge depression on which the college grounds were later developed. The ridge is the site of the present-day beach. When Fort St. George was built in 1640, the sea was too close to the fort. The building of the harbor near the fort resulted in sand accretion to the south of the fort and the harbor and the sea, which was washing the ramparts of the fort, moved afar at about 2.5 km away from the fort creating a wide beach between the land and the sea.Before the Madras harbor was built, the beach was just a strip of mud, teeming with mudskippers. The beach washed up close to the present day road for a long time until the harbor was built in 1881. Mount Stuart Elphinstone Grant Duff, the governor of Madras from 1881 to 1886, who was captivated by the beach on an earlier visit to the city in the late 1870s, conceived and built the promenade along the beach in 1884 by extensively modifying and layering with soft sand. He also gave it the name Madras Marina in the same year. Since the early 19th century, a number of public buildings were constructed fronting the beach.
Ever since the harbor was built, the area south of the port has accreted significantly, forming the present day's beach mainly due to the presence of wave breakers laid for the construction of the harbor, although the coast in the northern region has undergone severe erosion. Eventually, the north-drifting current widened the beach to its present extent. The beach was formed as a result of arresting the littoral drift by the port's breakwater. The area of the beach is increasing 40 sq m every year due to progradation.
Since the creation of the promenade in 1884, there were several additions along the stretch. The country's first aquarium was established as one of the first additions in 1909. Shortly after the Independence, the Triumph of Labour statue and the Gandhi statue in 'march to Dandi' stride, which has been duplicated on the lawns of the Parliament House, were erected on the beach. In 1968, a number of statues of icons of Tamil literature was erected to mark the first World Tamil Conference, including Avvaiyar, Tiruvalluvar, Kambar, Subramania Bharathiyar, Bharathidasan, the Dravidologist Caldwell, G. U. Pope and Veeramamunivar. Anna memorial was built in 1970 and the M.G.R. and Amma Memorial in 1988, shortening the stretch at its northern end. Later addition was a statue for Kamaraj. In December 2016, the then chief minister of Tamil Nadu J. Jayalalithaa was also buried here, inside the M.G.R. Memorial campus and a foundation stone for construction of a memorial for her there has been laid. On 8 August 2018, former chief minister of Tamil Nadu M. Karunanidhi was buried beside his mentor Annadurai at the Marina Beach.
Ecology
Environment
The Marina beach was famed for its pristine beauty, jolly ambiance, and rich ecosystems. However, since the middle of the 20th century, the beach and water have become polluted. Proliferation of plastic bags, human waste, and other pollutants have rendered many parts of the beach unusable. In recent years, many voluntary organizations have taken up the task of cleaning up the Marina and protecting the ecosystem. Particular efforts include protection of olive ridley turtle nests along the Neelankarai section of the beach.Flora and fauna
Marina Beach lies on the stretch of coast where olive ridley sea turtles, a species classified as Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, nest during mating season, chiefly between late October and April peaking from mid-January to mid-February. The Ennore–Mamallapuram zone, on which the beach lies, is one of the three major nesting grounds on the Indian coast. However, with the expansion of the shrimp trawling fishery in the eastern coast of India in the mid-1970s, several individuals of the species are washed ashore dead every year. The eggs laid by the females along the beach are also sold in the local market by the fishermen and traders. In 1977, a recovery program was started by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute. Many volunteer organizations in the city, such as the Students' Sea Turtle Conservation Network and the Sea Turtle Protection Force of the TREE Foundation, get involved in conservation of the species along the coast.Meiofaunal composition at the Marina Beach chiefly includes turbellarians, nematodes, polychaetes, oligochaetes, and harpacticoids. Species of gastrotrichs are also found in the region.
Common fishes found along the beach include mullets, sharks, silver bellies, rays, ribbon fish, skates, whitebait, dussumieria, Jew fish, horse mackerel, crabs, seer, pellona, pomfret, perches, lactarius, lethrinus, flying fish, engraulis, sardines, lobsters, sabre fish, barracuda, hilsa, tunny fish, Indian salmon, leather jackets, cookup, breams, catfish, snappers, synagris, bonito, soles, polynemus, and prawns, among others.
Dimensions and characteristics
The Marina is a natural urban sandy beach along the Coramandel coast on the Bay of Bengal. Primarily sandy, the beach spans about, running from near Fort St. George in the north to Besant Nagar in the south and is the longest natural urban beach in India. The average width of the beach is and the width at the widest stretch is.Infrastructure and activities
Marina beach is a major tourist attraction of the city. It is also the main place for the local people to escape from the summer heat. The beach is popular for its shops and food stalls run by about 500 shops run by about 1,212 vendors. The memorials and statues, morning walk, joggers' track, lovers' spot, aquarium, and the like make it a hangout for people of all ages. Kite flying and beach cricket are common sports at the beach, and there are also facilities for pony rides. Beach cricket at the Marina dates back several decades. However, Chennai City Police has banned it at different points due to its interference with traffic and beach walkers. The sea is generally rough and waves are strong. There are fishermen colonies present at both ends of the beach. There are also joyrides, merry-go-rounds and mini giant wheels along the stretch, although they are installed without permission from any government agency.There are two swimming pools along the stretch—the Marina swimming pool and the Anna swimming pool. The Marina swimming pool was built in 1947 and is located on a 1.5-acre compound opposite the Presidency College. The pool is 100 m long and 34 m wide, bigger than the standard Olympic pool size of 50 m × 25 m and is deep. The shallow end is 3.5 feet deep. It is maintained by Corporation of Chennai. It underwent renovation in 1994, 2004, and 2009. On an average, the swimming pool receives 1,500 people. During the summer months of April and May, the footfall goes up to 2,500 people. The pool can accommodate around 400 people at any given time and has 10 cloak rooms. As of 2018, there were 30 staff in the pool and six surveillance cameras. The Anna swimming pool is located opposite the clock tower building of the University of Madras and virtually remains hidden behind the Anna Square bus terminus. The pool is said to be the first Olympic size pool to be built in Tamil Nadu. It was constructed in 1976 with a diving board. However, the diving board was removed later during a renovation. The pool is deep. It also has a toddler pool that is. Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu conducts regular coaching camps at the pool.
The oval-shaped skating arena at the beach has an outer railing and standing area for people to watch from.
As part of the 'Chennai Forever' initiative by the Tamil Nadu government, a tall, artificial waterfall was installed in September 2005 at a cost of 1.5 million. A visitor center near the Cooum River mouth on the Marina, similar to the Marina Barrage Visitor Centre in Singapore and San Antonio Visitor Center in the United States, has been planned as part of an initiative to create awareness of the need for clean waterways.
In 2008, two floating fountains with spray height of 100 feet with color lights for night view were planned to be installed in sea waters off the beach.
In 2010, the Chennai Corporation procured new cleaning equipment to clean the beach at a cost of 8.011 million. These included a sand-cleaning machine capable of cleaning 15,000 m2 area in an hour procured at a cost of 3.267 million, three skid steer loaders to clean narrow lanes commissioned at a cost of 2.652 million, imported lawn mower, ride-on mechanical sweeper, tree pruner and hedge trimmer. An automatic ticket-vending machine at a cost of 170,000 was also commissioned at the Marina swimming pool for managing the crowd. The corporation also planned to construct two more public conveniences at the beach. About 150 corporation staff, including a junior engineer, maintains the lawns and service lanes on the beach.
As of 2013, the 3.1-km stretch of the beach from the Triumph of Labor statue to the lighthouse has 31 high-mast lamps.
According to police statistics, about 5,000 people use the 2-km-long Loop Road daily for their morning walk.
As of 2017, there were 1,544 vendors on the beach, which increased to 1,962 by 2019. In 2019, the Corporation decided to restrict the licensed vendors to 900. There are toilets at six locations across the stretch and about 175 sanitary workers deployed at the beach on shift basis.
The beach had facility to park 2,271 two-wheelers, 457 cars, and 80 vans and buses.