ebsa as a management tool for neglected marine and … · •the report describes each of the site....

EBSA as a Management Tool for Neglected Marine and Coastal

Ecosystems

Deepak Apte PhD

Reshma Pitale

Vishal Bhave

Introduction

• India with its 8000 km odd coastal stretch possesses rich marine biota however, this coastal stretch has been rendered vulnerable to unplanned random developmental activities

• Maharashtra State has 850km coastline

• Neglected Habitats: sandy shores, mudflats, rock pools, seagrass, mangroves

• Coral reefs and offshore reef bank Angria Bank

MPAs in India

• There are 24 MPAs in peninsular India and more than 100 MPAs in the country's single island Archipelago (Andaman and Nicobar).

• The 24 MPAs have a total area of about 8214 km, which is about 5 % of the total area under the entire PA network of India and less than 0.3% of the total land area of India.

• There are 105 PAs in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and all are part of the MPA network of India. These MPAs cover about 60% of the terrestrial area of the islands and protect more than 40% of the coastal habitat.

Ahana Lakshmi, Aurofilio Schiavina, Probir Banerjee, Ajit Reddy Sunaina Mandeen, Sudarshan Rodriguez and APTE,

D.A. (2012). The Challenged Coast of India. Published by: BNHS, NCPC, PondyCAN and TISS. Pp. 232.

The

Challenged

Coast of

India

What is relevance of Ecologically Sensitive Areas & EBSA?

• Country like India having large population depending on coastal resources, formation of new MPAs is near impossible.

• In this scenario ecologically important sites under Environmental Protection Act (1980) or EBSA under Biodiversity Act (2000) becomes valuable tool.

• Use robust science as well as social dimension

• Important tool to assist government to make judicious judgment while considering developmental project in an around these sites.

• Aims to assist government to make strategic allocations for conservation and restoration measures as well as enhancing nature based enterprises.

• Seven EBSAs been identified along the coast of Maharashtra.

• The report describes each of the site.

Linkages between EBSA and national laws

• EBSA as such has no statutory standing. Thus identifying itself is of no use

• Too many nomenclatures confuse decision making (for example, national parks, sanctuaries, conservation reserves, community reserves, ecologically sensitive sites, IBAs, KBAs, MPAs, biodiversity heritage sites, RAMSAR, etc).

• EBSAs thus needs to be integrated within existing national legal framework.

Mapping Tool Quantum GIS (Ver. 2.8) was employed for mapping various data layers. Basic administrative layers [from Open street map, Landsat 8 (natural colour)] were used for the representation of various natural habitats. Data regarding waterbodies were extracted using 12 ALOS PALSAR 25-meter scene mosaic (N015E073 to N020E073, N018E072- N020E072, N021E072- N022E072 and N022E068 – FNF datasets). Original data was provided by JAXA. Layers of various habitats were plotted to highlight the important areas. Mangrove data (Spalding et al. 2010 and BNHS unpublished data), marine mammals of India records (http://marinemammals.in), along with other records based on news/literature review have been gleaned and georeferenced to the nearest accurate locality. Sea turtle data has been gathered from various published reports (Giri et al. 2006, Katdare et al. 2010). Data on coral patches (except Sindhudurg) were pulled from UNEP-WCMC, World Fish Centre WRI, TNC (2010). All other data are from unpublished data held by BNHS. Mangrove polygons were outlined (after ground truthing) the mangrove areas using Google Earth Pro base imagery which is missed in the World mangrove atlas (Spalding et al., 1997), especially area from Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts. All other data are from unpublished records with BNHS) as well as thorough literature review.

EBSA Locations in Maharashtra

Estimated areas (in sq.km.) under EBSA clusters

EBSA CLUSTERS Mangrove/wetland

Sandy Rocky Total EBSA area including land

Palghar-Thane 30.79 19.35 18.23 3635

Kashid-Akshi 17.14 5.16 2.19 207

Velas-Dighi 39.14 4.96 4.20 848

Guhagar-Dabhol 8.05 1.24 1.90 349

Ratnagiri-Jaigad 8.69 4.58 1.51 515

Devgad-Vijaydurg-Kasheli 7.89 4.11 2.90 792

Vengurla-Malvan-Achra 18.00 5.81 0.81 587

Total estimated area 129.70 45.21 31.74 6933

EBSA -1: Vengurla-Malvan-Achra

CBD EBSA Criteria (Annex I to decision

IX/20)

Ranking of criterion relevance (please mark one column

with an X)

Don’t Know Low Some High

Uniqueness or rarity X

Special importance for lifehistory stages

of species

X

Importance for threatened, endangered

or declining species and/or habitats

X

Vulnerability, fragility, sensitivity, or

slow recovery

X

Biological productivity X

Biological diversity X

Naturalness X

Image: Rodrigo HG

Developmental projects within the EBSA boundaries: Vengurla-Malvan-Achra

EBSA -2: Devgad-Vijaydurg-Kasheli

CBD EBSA Criteria (Annex I to

decision IX/20)

Ranking of criterion relevance (please mark one

column with an X)



Special importance for lifehistory

stages of species

X

Importance for threatened,

endangered or declining species

and/or habitats

X

Vulnerability, fragility, sensitivity, or

slow recovery

X

Biological productivity

X

Biological diversity

X

Naturalness

X

Image: Dhritiman Mukharjee

EBSA 2 and Developmental projects within the EBSA boundaries: Devgad-Vijaydurg-Kasheli

EBSA -3: Ratnagiri-Jaigad CBD EBSA Criteria (Annex I to

decision IX/20)

Ranking of criterion relevance (please mark one

column with an X)



Special importance for lifehistory

stages of species

X



and/or habitats

X

Vulnerability, fragility, sensitivity,

or slow recovery

X



Naturalness X

Image: Digant Desai

EBSA 3 and Developmental projects within the EBSA boundaries: Ratnagiri-Jaigad

EBSA -4: Guhagar-Dabhol

CBD EBSA Criteria (Annex I to decision IX/20)

Ranking of criterion relevance (please mark one column with

an X)



Special importance for lifehistory stages

of species

X

Importance for threatened, endangered

or declining species and/or habitats

X

Vulnerability, fragility, sensitivity, or slow

recovery

X



Naturalness X

EBSA 4 and Developmental projects within the EBSA boundaries: Ratnagiri-Jaigad

EBSA -5: Velas-Dighi


Ranking of criterion relevance (please mark

one column with an X)



Special importance for lifehistory stages of species X

Importance for threatened, endangered or

declining species and/or habitats

X

Vulnerability, fragility, sensitivity, or slow recovery X



Naturalness X

Image: Deepak Apte

EBSA 5 and Developmental projects within the EBSA boundaries: Velas-Dighi

EBSA -6: Kashid-Akshi


Ranking of criterion relevance (please

mark one column with an X)






X




Naturalness X

Images: Deepak Apte

EBSA 6 and Developmental projects within the EBSA boundaries: Kashid-Akshi

EBSA -7: Thane-Palghar

CBD EBSA Criteria (Annex I to decision IX/20) Ranking of criterion relevance (please

mark one column with an X) Don’t Know Low Some High





X




Naturalness X

Images: IBA/BNHS

EBSA 7 and Developmental projects within the EBSA boundaries: Thane-Palghar

Bay of Bengal High Seas Olive Ridley sea turtle migratory corridor

Images: Bivash Pandav

Turtle Migration Studies: Movement of Olive Ridley Sea Turtles outside EEZ of India

Source Map with turtle tracks: Copyright: Wildlife Institute of India (WII), India. Sea turtle satellite track maps shared and data provided in the document not to be reproduced without permission from WII, India. Contact: Dr. Siva Kumar [email protected]

Marine habitat utilization of Olive Ridlyes in India and Sri Lanka

Source Map with turtle tracks: Copyright: Wildlife Institute of India (WII), India. Sea turtle satellite track maps shared and data provided in the document not to be reproduced without permission from WII, India. Contact: Dr. Siva Kumar [email protected]

New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP)

Status of Blocks under NELP (Update till 2012)

Offered Deepwat

er Shallow water

Land Total Relinquished

Operational

360 80 58 111 249 53 196

Cairns India Ltd BP-Reliance ONGC

CBD EBSA Criteria

(Annex I to decision IX/20)

Description

(Annex I to decision IX/20)

Ranking of criterion relevance

(please mark one column with an X)

No

information

Low Medi

um

High

Uniqueness or rarity Area contains either (i) unique (“the only one of its kind”), rare (occurs only in few locations) or

endemic species, populations or communities, and/or (ii) unique, rare or distinct, habitats or ecosystems;

and/or (iii) unique or unusual geomorphological or oceanographic features.

X

Explanation for ranking: The annual mass movement of Olive Ridley for nesting and return through the area is just one of two such occurrences in the world and also the largest

(Tripathy and Choudhary, 2003; Bhupathy, S. and Saravanan, 2002; Andrews, et al 2001)

Special importance for life-

history stages of species

Areas that are required for a population to survive and thrive. X

Explanation for ranking: The mass movement of the adult turtles through the Bay of Bengal High Seas is an important part of the life cycle of Olive Ridleys as they appear to disperse

after reaching the seas off the Sri Lankan coast. So the proposed EBSA is very important for the life cycle for the Olive Ridley (Das and Kar, 1990, Pandav and Choudhury, 2000)



and/or habitats

Area containing habitat for the survival and recovery of endangered, threatened, declining species or

area with significant assemblages of such species.

X

Explanation for ranking:

Olive Ridley Turtles are on IUCN Red List species as vulnerable Abreu-Grobois, A & Plotkin, 2008

Vulnerability, fragility,

sensitivity, or slow recovery

Areas that contain a relatively high proportion of sensitive habitats, biotopes or species that are

functionally fragile (highly susceptible to degradation or depletion by human activity or by natural events)

or with slow recovery.

X

Explanation for ranking

The Olive Ridley turtles are highly vulnerable near shore breeding congregation areas due to fishing. Eggs in the nests and young hatchlings are vulnerable to predation. While nesting

sites are vulnerable to shore plantations, armoring and beach illumination (Tripathy and Rajasekhar, 2009). However, its vulnerability is unknown during the movement through this

area than when breeding or nesting.

Biological productivity Area containing species, populations or communities with comparatively higher natural biological

productivity.

X


Biological diversity Area contains comparatively higher diversity of ecosystems, habitats, communities, or species, or has

higher genetic diversity.

X


The biodiversity of the Bay of Bengal High Seas is relatively low Mishra et al (2011), BOBLME, (2012) and Brewer et al (2015).

Naturalness Area with a comparatively higher degree of naturalness as a result of the lack of or low level of human-

induced disturbance or degradation.

X


High Seas area with limited shipping lanes and industrial fishing

Acknowledgment

• The project is funded by British Gas, India.

• Parveen Shaikh, Raju Kasambe, Harshal Karve, Pooja Nagale, Amruta Prasade Bhave and Swapnali Gole for their help during the project.

• Special mentions to M.R. Maithreyi for editorial support and Mr. Gopi Naidu for design.

• We are thankful to Mr. Milind Dhupkar, Mr. Pritam Kadam and Mr. Balaji during field work.

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