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Implications for Conservation of Coral Reefs in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

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Relation http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/6858/
http://www.icran.org/management-itmems.html
 
Title Implications for Conservation of Coral Reefs in the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India
 
Creator Jeyabaskaran, R
Venkataraman, K
Alfred, J R B
 
Subject Coral Reefs
 
Description The Andaman and Nicobar Islands comprised of 306 Islands and 226 rocks covering
about 948.8 km2 coral reefs and 762 km2 mangrove areas. There are 106 protected
areas in these Islands, 96 designated as wildlife sanctuaries, 9 national parks and one
biosphere reserve. Among the 9 national parks, 2 are marine national parks which have
not yet inventoried thoroughly. There are about 6540 species of fauna, 2500 species of
flora reported from these islands. About 4% of marine species are endemic. Natural
and human impacts on coral reefs have been increasing in recent years. The Indian
Ocean tsunami on December 26, 2004 caused severe damage to coral reefs of these
Islands. About 4000 ha of North Andaman, 1211 ha of South Andaman and 3500 ha of
Nicobar Island reefs were damaged due to tsunami. All corals and important
associated animals are protected under Indian Wildlife Act, 1972 and Biodiversity Act,
2002. The tribal people of Nicobar Islands are exempted from the wildlife act and it
cause extensive damage to coral reef associated fauna. Nowadays poaching and
tourism developments are the major threats to reefs. There are 1,10,000 tourists are
visiting the islands during the calm weather season from October to February. Paddy
field of these Islands covers about 10,517 ha with the usage of 32 kg fertilizers per
hectare. Fertilizers discharges into sea cause algal over growth on reefs. Most of the
coral reefs monitoring works are restricted to South Andaman reefs only. There is an
urgent need for establishment of permanent monitoring site in each reef, increase of
awareness campaign, sea patrolling and strict enforcement of law. The conservation
strategies for coral reefs of these Islands are discussed in the paper in detail.
 
Publisher ITMEMS
 
Date 2007
 
Type Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
application/pdf
 
Language en
en
 
Identifier http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/6858/1/JB_ITMEMS_3_paper.pdf
http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/6858/2/03_IMPLICATION_PHOTOS.pdf
Jeyabaskaran, R and Venkataraman, K and Alfred, J R B (2007) Implications for Conservation of Coral Reefs in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. In: The Third International Tropical Marine Ecosystem Management Symposium (ITMEMS3), October 16-20, 2006, Cozumel, Mexico.