The coastal environment is increasingly degraded from development's impacts.

Description: Hikkaduwa is one of the most densely developed tourism sites in Sri Lanka and encompasses the first national marine sanctuary, established in 1979. Coastal tourism is a mainstay of the country's economy. With 80 percent of all tourism infrastructure in coastal areas, the industry generates about $200 million each year. The tourism economy of Hikkaduwa is almost entirely dependent on the quality of the beach and coral reef along its five-kilometer beach front. Gross annual revenue from about 150 tourism establishments is more than $30 million.

Threats: The coastal environment is increasingly degraded from development's impacts. Poor environmental planning, inadequate law enforcement, and lack of consideration of sociocultural issues are the primary underlying causes. Longtime residents of the area have stated that "entire sections" of the reef have been destroyed over the last 20 years. The most important threat to the area is the unregulated operations of a large number of glass-bottomed boats. These vessels hit the corals, anchors are dropped, and tourists stand and walk on the reefs. Anchoring and dumping of oil by fishing boats is also a problem. Additional threats include polluted water from fish holds and waste oil dumped directly in the sanctuary, and sediments stirred up by boat traffic. Coral reef mining occurs within a kilometer of this protected area, and many of the nearby reefs are devastated. The government and local community are finally taking steps to limit boating activity, to require hotels to stop dumping wastewater into the ocean, and to patrol the reef in order to prevent trampling of corals and illegal fishing.