Background

The project represents conservation issues of mangroves in the Ratnagiri District of Maharashtra. The
area is well known for its dense mangroves yet not studied in detail till present. During the last 25 years,
about 40% reduction in the mangrove cover of Maharashtra has been due to human interference.
Recently, various industries including power project are set to be developed in this region. In light of these
developments, it is needed to undertake a comprehensive assessment of mangrove habitats of this
region along with awareness for conservation and improvement of degraded mangrove ecosystems along
these coasts.
Majority of the mangrove forests of Maharashtra have vanished due to anthropogenic pressures in the
recent years. During the last 25 years, about 40% reduction in the mangrove cover of Maharashtra has
been due to human interference. Wood felling and habitat conversion under tremendous pressure of
urbanization and industrialization are the two major threats observed for the mangroves of Maharashtra.
Pollution of the rivers and creek water due to the industrial and sewerage discharge is another serious
factor along the coastal belt of Maharashtra. At least fifteen proposed coal-fired power projects equaling
25 GW of power are set to be built on a narrow strip of coastal land 50 to 90 km wide and 200 km long.
Power plants require their own captive ports for the transport of raw material. Thus there are number of
minor ports proposed to come up in this area. Needless to say that ancillary development bound to take
place which is not necessarily envisaged in the proposed project impacts. Besides, thermal power plants
and minor ports and jetties, the coastal areas are dotted with numerous aquaculture farms which have
come up at the cost of mangroves and most probably without any legal clearances. Unfortunately, lot of
coastal mangrove areas in Konkan are privately owned thus it is not surprising to find many of these
areas are easily available for sale. Western Ghat areas of Konkan are now witnessing mining activities as
well. There are already few operational mines. Number of new mines are proposed in these areas.
Coastal tourism is catching up very fast in the coastal Konkan. Number of coastal resorts have come up
in this region of which one or two resorts are in total violation of Coastal Regulation Zone. It is evident
from the baseline survey carried out by BNHS (Apte & Bhave 2010), that if looked in totality, there is not a
single sq km area free of impact in the stretch of about 200 km of coastal Konkan from Dabhol to
Sindhudurg.

Target beneficiaries
Scientific researcher and coastal zone managers

Outputs
The project aimed to document the ecological status and existing, as well as potential future threats, to
the mangrove plant communities in the Ratnagiri District of Maharashtra. Surveys will be conducted in the
selected sites to analyze parameters such as species richness, community structure and floral species
distribution patterns across biotic and abiotic factors. Based on the collected data, distribution maps will
be produced.
The project further aimed to empower local communities to conserve the mangroves through awareness
and education programmes. Meetings with stake holders and Village Governing Bodies will be conducted
to create platforms for the sharing of experiences and problems encountered in the conservation of

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mangroves at the ground level. Further to this a demonstration plot will be developed with local
community participation for the restoration of mangrove areas. Approximately 10,000 saplings will be
raised in a mangrove nursery; it is expected that at least four acres of suitable land will be restored.
This programme is an effort to increase awareness of mangroves in Maharashtra in scientific circles, as
well as local communities. Although a short term project, it will establish the initial steps towards future
mangrove conservation in the region.

Accomplishments and challenges

The floristic explorations are constantly subject to new discovery, addition and deletion of species from
the mangrove database of Maharashtra. Due to the restricted contribution of plant taxonomists, the
systematic enumeration of mangroves is seldom mentioned in the literature and the aspect of
identification is generally taken for granted in most of the ecological works. Limitations to the field work,
wide distribution and adaptation of the species are responsible for the taxonomic uncertainties despite
their apperent familaritry. As the mangroves belong to different families, the phenological stages change
according to the species and the researchers are unable to find a single season to study the characters of
a species. Therefore, frequent field visits and laboratorical observations become necessary in the process
of identification of mangroves. Some of the earlier publications have produced erroneous species list due
to the mis-identification or nomenclatural changes. From the table it is clear that species Bruguiera
parviflora, Sonneratia acida, Acanthus ebracteatus, Acanthus volubilis, Lumnitzera coccinea, Xylocarpus
moluccensis and Xylocarpus mekongensis are not recorded afterwards or their occurrence in the study
area is dubious. Surprisingly, Sonneratia alba which is very distinct species and common at the mouth of
all major estuaries was not mentioned in any of the State Flora of BSI and Almeida..
The present floristic analysis of mangroves along the Maharashtra coast reveals 18 true mangrove
species with one variety (Table 4.2a) and 15 frequent associates. The mangrove species belongs to 12
genera from 9 families. The family Rhizophoraceae dominates with 7 species representing 4 genus
followed by Sonneratiaceae and Avicenniaceae with three species each. Myrsinaceae, Combretaceae,
Acanthaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Meliaceae and Fabaceae represent single genus and species. Avicennia,
which is taxonomically most confusing genus, has two distinct species and a variety.
The awareness and education programmes included 17 schools and five villages in the Ratnagiri districts.
The nature of the programmes was common for schools and villages or governing bodies. The schools
were open to readily participate in such programmes. Maharashtra State Education Board syllabus for
secondary schools included lessons on mangrove ecosystem and their conservation in the Environmental
Science which was taught as a separate subject till last academic year (2011-2012). However, the subject
merely exists as three additional lessons in the text book of General Sciences which includes a paragraph
on mangrove ecosystems. Most of the schools appreciated the programmes conducted by BNHS as
students and even teachers got an opportunity of the subject exposure. However, it was very difficult to
approach and gather villagers together for any activity mostly due to their pre-occupations and partially
due to lack of interest. On the other hand the villages which readily allowed to take the programmes in
their villages were very proactive and eager to respond. The villages which participated in programmes
were Umroli, Bhopan, Tiwre, Juve and Aade.

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History
Mumbai Historical records indicate that there were several islands around Mumbai during 1670.
However, the Britishers, who were ruling the country identified the importance of these islands
for commercial purpose. They deforested the fringing mangroves and reclaimed these islands
into one continuous landmass, which later came to be known as "Greater Bombay". Since then
the developmental and bsequently population pressure rapidly increased and being the coastal
area, it took the toll of mangrove land. During the process of deforestation and reclamation, a
few mangrove patches are still left in the heart of the city, which proves that today's megacity
had a luxuriant past of mangrove forests (fig). Major mangroves are seen today in Mumbai
along the Vasai Creek, Thane Creek, Manori and Malad, Mahim - Bandra, Versova, Siwari,

Mumbra - Diva and few more places.

Importance of Mangroves for Mumbai
Mangroves represent the spirit of Mumbai they are plucky survivors. But each day, millions of citizens in
Mumbai pass these hardy plants imagining they are little more than dirty, muddy weeds growing
pointlessly along the shoreline. How little people understand just how important mangroves are to the
quality of life of the citizens of Mumbai.
By trapping silt, mangroves maintain the integrity of Mumbais shoreline. This is a vital service to the city
of Mumbai as it is very prone to erosion, having been built on reclaimed land that is battered by the sea
on all three sides. The recent rains in Mumbai and the disaster that followed demonstrated the
consequence of tampering with the ecology of fragile ecosystems like mangroves. Had Mumbais Mithi
river and Mahim creek mangroves not been destroyed by builders, fewer people would have died and the
property damage would have been dramatically less.
The Koli community in Mumbai worships mangroves because they know that these are breeding and
nursery grounds for the marine organisms on which their sustenance depends.

Mangrove community of Mumbai

In the early nineties, perhaps over 37 sq. km. of mangroves existed in Mumbai, largely in the
Thane creek, Mahim, Versova, Gorai and Ghodbunder, with sporadic patches in places such as
Bandra, Malabar Hill and Colaba. Mumbai has probably lost 40 per cent of all its mangroves in
the past decade or so, largely because of reclamation for housing, slums, sewage treatment
and garbage dumps. Fortunately, thanks to the Godrej family, we still have excellent mangrove
forests in Vikhroli (Link).
Around 20 out of the 35 species of true mangroves found in India have been identified along the
Maharashtra coast and 15 species of these are found in Mumbai.
Because of the high salinity of the soil, something like 60 per cent of Mumbai mangroves
comprise Avicennia marina. Nor surprisingly this species also tolerates pollution including heavy
metals such as lead, mercury and chromium, all found in significant concentrations in the Mithi
river.

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Mangrove destruction in Mumbai

Rapid developments like housing,
industrialization, pollution and increasing
population of Mumbai has resulted into
degradation of mangroves. There are two
important creeks, Vasai Creek towards north
and Thane Creek toward south where
luxuriant mangrove patches are still left.
Otherwise the State Govt. agencies have
failed to protect this important, productive
mangrove ecosystem from building mafias.v
The worst affected area in Mumbai is the
entire western front excepting Carter Road
where the mangroves have grown and have also registered an increase in height in the
last 10 years. This has been possible due to the participation of citizens forums fighting
individually.
In India, a legal protection is afforded to this ecosystem by way of legislation in the form
of Coastal Regulation Zone Notification. Recently Mumbai High Court has ordered
freeze on destruction of mangrove forests in Maharashtra and has banned construction
within 50 metres of them. The court has also directed to notify mangrove areas as
protected forests. Thus, there is already a mechanism provided for management of this
ecosystem. Unfortunately, however many a times the legal provisions are not being
enforced to curb the illegal activities.
In such a situation, protection of the mangrove ecosystem is possible only through the
participation of the local community and by building up pressure groups for ensuring
management of this ecosystem and strict implementation of the legal provisions by the
Government. Thereby, integrity of habitats critical for spawning, juveniles and feeding
and for biodiversity, apart from ecological sustainability and community-sustainability
could be maintained.
In the past few years there has been an increase in the awareness of the people in
Mumbai. Residents associations are coming together to spread this awareness. They
realize that the rapid destruction of mangroves along the coast of Mumbai will have farreaching effects on the city. The NGOs in Mumbai are making efforts to highlight the
issues like land reclamation, coastal regulation zone notification and illegal destruction
of the mangrove areas through the interventions of the local state government and a
local bodies.
Ecologically Important Areas of Maharashtra Coast:
Institute for Ocean Management has identified Malvan and Ratnagiri under the category of ecologically
important areas in the state of Maharashtra.

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District

Site

Ecological
Importance

Ratnagiri

Mangrove

Malvan

Coral Reef
Mangrove

Ratnagiri

Geographic Location
7315'30''- 7322'30''E
1615'00''- 1705'00''N
7322'30''- 7330'16''E
1600'00''- 1607'30''N

Area in
Coast
km length(km)
0.36

1.20

0.43
0.04

0.99

Geographical Location:
Maharashtra has an area of 3,07,690 Sq.kms with a population density of 256/Sq.km.. Maharashtra is
the third largest state in the country both in terms of size and population. It is bordered by the Arabian sea
in the west, Gujarat in the North-West, Andhra Pradesh in the South-East and Karnataka and Goa in the
South. The Sahyadris Western Ghats run parallel to the Sea Coast. The main rivers flowing through the
state are Godavari, Bhima and Krishna. The state of Maharashtra stretches from the coast of the Arabian
sea along the Western Ghats to the Deccan Plateau. The Maharashtra coast is characterized by pocket
beaches flanked by rocky cliffs of deccan basalt; estuaries and patches of mangroves. Maharashtra state
has about 720 km long indented coastline, which is marked by the presence of major estuaries and
narrow creeks. It comprises the coastal districts of Thane, Raigad, Greater Bombay, Ratnagiri and
Sindhudurg. The Shoreline is generally straight. The area receives over 300cms of annual rainfall spread
over 4 months of the year.
Physiographically the area can be divided into 3 parts from the west to east as follows:

A narrow fringe of quaternary fluvio-marine sediments

Steep rocky slopes encircling the plateaus
An undulating plateau profile rising in height towards the east

The main drainage in the coastal area trends in a general East-West direction and flows to the Arabian
sea in the west. The Dudh, Vaitarna, Ulhas, Amba, Kundalika, Vashishthi, Savitri, Shastri and Terekhol
rivers
and
their
tributaries
form
the
main
drainage.
The Maharashtra coast popularly known as Konkan coast is an important sector on the West coast of
India, because of its physical distinctiveness, biota and marine resources. The coastal areas are
populated and developed in the active region of Konkan. The coastal region is hilly, narrow, highly
dissected with transverse ridges of the western ghats and at many places extending as promontories,
notches, sea caves, embayments, submerged shoals and offshore islands. Some of the major problems
faced by the littoral zone and the shore front areas of Maharashtra coast are related to coastal erosion,
siltation, pollution, destruction of mangrove swamps, salt marshes, sea level rise, landslides and slope
failure, pressure of population, industrialization, road transport etc.

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