Impact of dredging on water quality and group diversity of marine zooplankton during construction and reclaimation activities of new berths at Mormugao Harbour, Goa.

Abstract

Pelagic and benthic communities in the near shore marine environment are subject to siltation process arising from natural causes or human activities. These could act as stress factors to the living organisms. Dredging at ports a process of removing sediment debris from the navigational channel in order to permit larger ships to enter the berthing place. The present study has been carried out to understand “The impact of dredging on the water quality and group diversity of marine zooplankton during construction and reclamation activities of new berths at Mormugao Harbour”. For this purpose physicochemical and biological observations were carried out.