Prioritization of potential sites for marine biodiversity conservation in India

Abstract

Tropical marine ecosystems of the Indian subcontinent harbour a large number of species belonging to various habitats that include mangrove swamps, estuaries, lagoons, muddy, sandy/rocky shores, and oceanic islands. In India, although the marine biological research has been going on for a long time, there are several groups of living, or endangered (some extinct) organisms, about which there is no proper scientific information available. There are various ecosystems and species that are threatened as a result of several developmental activities like over-exploitation, pollution, reclamation, etc. These include coral reefs, mangroves, marine algae and seagrasses, conventional fishery resources, the rare groups of faunal elements and various microorganisms responsible for different activities. On the advent of the industrial revolution, the coastal regions have threatened by industrial pollution, and by habitat destruction because of dredging sand mining, reclamation and rapid urbanization. Only a fraction of these species affected are known to science. The IUCN has categorized this biota into extinct, endangered, vulnerable, rare indeterminate, out of danger and insufficiently known. It would be premature to decide the specific priorities based on the scattered and inadequate data available. Though data on marine species and ecosystems is still sparse, on the basis of available data it is possible to identify the undisturbed areas along the coast where biodiversity is rich. There are, fortunately, already some Biosphere Reserves, Sanctuaries, National Parks declared along the Indian coast. Similarly, detailed inventories can be prepared separately for he marine flora and the fauna in order to identify priority areas for conservation.