These are the alarming finds of different studies carried out by seven institutes, including the Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad, and Geological Survey of India, Dehradun. They were commissioned by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and carried out over the last two years.
The damage is evident off the Mumbai and Tamil Nadu coasts, along the Gulf of Kutch, the Sunderbans and the Orissa coastline (see graphic).
But all is not lost. In an attempt to curb this damage, the ministry is drafting new Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) guidelines that will identify vulnerable areas. “We plan to divide the coast into seven zones with different vulnerability lines where human interference will be highly restricted,” a ministry official who declined to be identified said. The zones could be 500 metres in some areas, and up to a few kilometres in others.
The new guidelines will not come a moment too soon.
A report prepared by the forest department in Gujarat has found that four of the 11 species of mangroves in the Gulf of Kutch have been exterminated due to human interference.
That is not all. In five years, oil spills have reduced the number of oysters in mangrove streams by 99 per cent, caused a 60 per cent decrease in isopods (crustaceans found in shallow marine waters) and a 50 per cent drop in spiny lobsters in the Gulf of Kutch alone.
The report adds that pollution created by the breaking of over 300 ships in Alang annually has “almost killed” marine life in the Gulf of Cambay.
“Petroleum and its by-products are killing marine life and its impact is very far-reaching,” said H.S. Singh of the Gujarat forest department.
The impact of oil spills can also be seen within five nautical miles off the coast of Mumbai where marine life has fallen drastically, affecting the population of wild prawns and shrimps, said an official of the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
BAYWATCH Different studies of the Indian coastline have thrown up alarming data.
CAUSE: Human interference, oil spills, shipbreaking activity in Alang Vast acidic coastal wastelands have been created. CAUSE: Extensive cast iron mining 6 species missing CAUSE:Extensive fishing, reduction in freshwater flow, tsunami 29 species missing CAUSE:
Extensive fishing, land reclamation, reduction in freshwater flow f One lakh Olive Ridleys found dead every year CAUSE: Oil exploration, poaching, extension of fishing jetties
