The Hindu : First national marine park in Gulf of Mannar

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 23, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

First national marine park in Gulf of Mannar

By P. S. Suresh Kumar

The coral reef bed in the Gulf of Mannar

Ramanathapuram April 22 . The Government proposes to launch a Rs. 110-crore, `seven-year project' for setting up India's first national marine park in the Gulf of Mannar to protect the breeding and feeding grounds of endangered fauna and flora and to eliminate factors which adversely affect the eco-system, according to the Ramanathapuram Collector, S. Vijaya Kumar.

The Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve encompasses 21 coastal islands. It consists of 3,600 species of plants and animals, making it biologically one of the richest coastal regions in South and Southeast Asia. The reserve has been selected as a priority site based on the criteria of biophysical and ecological uniqueness; economic, social, cultural and scientific importance; national and global significance and the management compatibility at the local and national levels. Supporting the Gulf's extensive biodiversity is its extensive and diverse assemblage of seagrass. Six of the world's twelve seagrass genera and eleven of the world's 50 species occur here. The Gulf of Mannar has the highest concentration of seagrass species along India's 7,500 km coastline. The seagrass beds are some of the largest remaining feeding grounds for the globally endangered marine mammal, dugong, which is also living in this reserve.

All five species of marine turtles— green, loggerhead, olive ridley, hawksbill and leatherback— have been nesting on the islands. Many species of crustaceans, mollusks, gastropods and fish have inhabited the sesgrass beds.

Moreover it harbours a total of 117 species of coral belonging to 37 genera. Coral reefs serve as the spawning grounds for fisheries and seagrass beds as nursery grounds, and mangroves as shelters form a unique component of life-support systems of coastal biodiversity that relates to global benefits and local needs.

Though the Centre designated the coastal area of the Gulf of Mannar as a national biosphere reserve in 1989, only now has it initiated action to protect natural vegetation and stabilise the island.The seven-year project will be funded under co-financing arrangements among the State and Central governments, the United Nations Development Programme, the Global Environment Facility, local communities and other donors. In the first phase, Rs. 40 crores has been allotted as grant by the Global Environmental Facility, an international body for coastal and marine ecosystems, for conservation and sustainable use of the biodiversity of the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve.

The GEF funds will be used to establish an integral management programme. A Biosphere Reserve Trust has already been formed for implementation of this programme. Further it has been decided to set up marine conservation councils consisting of representatives of village panchayats.With community involvement, zoning of priority habitats within the park will be done.

Boundaries will be demarcated. Habitat restoration and species management programmes would be developed for the habitat within the park boundaries. Infrastructure will also be improved to attract both foreign and domestic tourists, says the Collector.

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