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Ch. R.S Sarma

KAKINADA, March 22

THE Chennai-based M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), with its regional centre here, is engaged in the conservation, restoration and management of the Godavari and Krishna mangroves, according to the project co-ordinator, Dr T. Ravishankar.

The project would also rope in the State Forest Department and the local communities, especially the fishermen in the coastal villages, he said.

Dr Ravishankar, at a meeting organised by the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation and the Forest Department at Korangi village in the Coringa wildlife sanctuary near here, said the foundation had, so far, restored 300 hectares of degraded mangroves in East Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts. The mangrove project was also being implemented at Pichavaram and Muthupeta in Tamil Nadu, Mahanadi and Devi mouth area in Orissa and the Sunderbans in West Bengal. He said the conventional method of mapping and surveying to assess forest coverage in mangroves was difficult due to the inhospitable terrain. For this purpose, remote sensing techniques were being used, he added.

Under the project, the foundation had adopted 10 villages in the three districts and the local people were being educated and sensitised about the need for conservation of mangrove wetlands.

Eco-development committees were formed in the selected villages and the members were being assisted in raising alternative fuel resources to reduce dependence on mangroves. He said 16 micro plans were drawn up for the demonstration villages during the past five years and, so far, Rs 67 lakh were spent on the project.

The participants in the villages in the three districts had also earned Rs 51 lakh or so through schemes promoted by the foundation.

He said studies conducted by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) had clearly shown that there was considerable increase in fish catches in areas which had mangroves in comparison with other areas.

In the mangrove areas in Andhra Pradesh, the prawn seed is being collected in the wild on a large scale leading to an ecological imbalance.

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