ABILITY OF MANGROVE REDUCE WAVE INPACT AT COAST OF BENGKALIS ISLAND INDONESIA

Abstract

 The Bengkalis Island, Indonesia which lies in front of Malacca Straight has been experiencing severe coastal erosion process since 1955. At the present, Bengkalis Regional Government has started the mangrove plantation to prevent the coastal erosion. This paper has studied the ability of mangrove in reducing hydrodynamic impact due to physical characteristics of the tree. Xbeach1D model was employed to simulate the wave attenuation in the mangrove trees. Computation result demonstrated that the red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) had better reduction rate of wave heights and suitable for plantation.