IAPRS & SIS, Vol.34, Part 7, “Resource and Environmental Monitoring”, Hyderabad, India, 2002 
  
should be typical of an important ecosystem or habitat type, 
high species diversity, location of intense biological activity, 
provides a critical habitat for commercially or ecologically 
important species or groups of species, an area of specific 
sensitivity particularly susceptible to damage or disruption, etc. 
With the above-mentioned database and the areas defined in 
environmental appraisal and vulnerability assessment, the vital 
habitats of the study area ideal for preservation would be i) 
Good habitat occupying more than 5 sq km area, and ii) habitats 
at least risk. The preservation zone should have a buffer of 500 
m or as the case may be around it. 
All moderate habitat occupying i) 5 sq km area or less, ii) most 
vulnerable habitats (at maximum risk), iii) habitats at moderate 
risk may be taken up for conservation. Conservation zone may 
be further divided into three zones based on species richness, 
type of changes that have occurred in the habitat, etc., allowing 
different regulations in all the three conservation zones. 
5. ENVIRONMENTAL APPRAISAL OF THE 
VITAL HABITATS 
The Gulf of Kachchh is under severe threat due to natural as 
well as man-made conditions. The natural threats include 
cyclone, drought and earthquake. Gulf of Kachchh because of 
its strategic location is ideal for setting up of various industries, 
salt works, etc. There are already four Petroleum Industries, 
Chemical Factories, Fertilizer Company, Thermal Power 
Plants, 11 major and minor ports, Cement Factories and about 
twenty-five salt works in the area. The impact of all the 
developmental activities is already visible in the health of the 
resources. 
5.1 Coral Reef 
Live coral colonies of large size and their high percentage are 
mainly confined to the seaward region of the reef (i.e. reef 
crest, deeper zone, seaward portion of the reef flat). Maximum 
coral and algal diversity was observed in western direction 
followed by northern and northwestern directions. Thick mud 
deposition was observed in the reef edge and reef flat areas in 
the eastern direction. These areas possess very few colonies of 
live corals. The size of the colonies is mainly in the range of 2 
cm to about 24 cm. The reef flat areas consist of mainly sand in 
the landward region whereas dead coral boulders, rubbles were 
found mainly in the intermediate areas of reef flat. Eastern 
region is most degraded as indicated by the absence of algal 
ridge and presence of thick mud patches. In this zone, live coral 
colonies undergoing bleaching were observed (during ground 
data collection). Developmental pressure is considerably high 
in Kalubhar region due to which the impact is observed on this 
reef. The developmental pressure is mainly due to development 
of Jetty, pipeline, oil terminal, saltpans and berthing of ships. 
The site of oil spill, which occurred in the year 1999, was 
adjacent to the southern portion of Kalubhar reef. Overall in the 
entire Gulf region the coral reef has undergone rapid 
degradation during 1998-2000. 
Based on the model generated for the environmental appraisal 
of the habitat, the Kalubhar reef was zoned into Good, 
Moderate and Degraded Habitat. The Northern region, 
northwestern and northeastern region showed no change from 
1989 to 2001. Some improvement was noticed in northeastern 
region wherein area occupied by mud was observed to have 
reduced and changed to reef flat. Also the diversity of corals, 
percentage cover of corals, other floral and faunal details, 
406 
pointed out to these areas being Good Habitat. The region 
between west to southwest showed little change. Some portion 
of it underwent degradation and a small portion showed 
improvement. Therefore the area was assigned the category of 
Moderate Habitat. Maximum degradation was observed in the 
eastern-southeastern region. A total of 4.2 sq km area covered 
by reef flat is observed to have degraded and is now being 
occupied by thick mud (more than 50 cm mud). In the core 
MNP region, the northern Jindra-Chad, northern and western 
Munde ka bet also have good reefs. North to the Jindra bet is 
Pirotan island which has reefs in good condition on the 
northern, northwestern and southwestern portions. In general, 
the northern and western portions of all reefs of the MNP are in 
good condition. 
5.2 Mangroves 
Good mangroves in the Gulf of Kachchh are present only in the 
Dide-Ka-bet, Jindra-Chad, Bhains bid, small islands in the 
Hadde creek and mainland off Sikka to Valsura. The main 
causes of degradation were use of mangroves for fuel and 
fodder, camel grazing, large-scale development of saltpans in 
the sanctuary area, industrial development, creation of harbors 
and ship-breaking yards. This large-scale destruction of 
mangroves also led to decline in catch of marine fish of the 
region. Severe degradation of mangroves is continuously being 
observed from 1998 mainly due to oil spill. 
Avicennia (A. marina dominant and A. officinalis and A. alba 
are rare) forms the most seaward zone of the fringing 
mangroves as well as along the creeks and is 1m in height and 
is the most dominant community accounting for more than 70 
% of the area. The Rhizophora community occupies the inward 
margins of the creeks and the Ceriops community is present in 
the interior regions occupying elevated areas. Mix mangroves 
(Avicennia alba, Avicennia marina, Rhizophora mucronata, 
Ceriops tagal and very few trees of Aegiceras corniculatum) 
occur along the creeks adjacent to the mixed Avicennia zone). 
The ecotone between the marsh and mangrove communities has 
been identified as the transitional mangroves (Suaeda, 
Salicornia, sparse mangroves of Avicennia marina var 
accutissma which is found to inhabit only hyper saline areas in 
this region), representing the transition from the less saline 
mangrove to the highly saline marsh community. 
The impact of anthropogenic pressure is clearly visible in the 
zonation pattern. Sparse mix mangroves occur in more 
disturbed areas, and on certain islands, this region is occupied 
by sparse/degraded Avicennia marina. In the pockets, which are 
not easily accessible, the diversity of mangroves is good. 
Based on the analysis carried out for assessing the environment, 
Bhains bid, island southeast of Bhains bid, southeast Jindra and 
northeast Dide ka bet are in good condition. The central Jindra 
portion and the mainland below are in most degraded condition 
due to the impact of oil spill. About 14.7 sq km area has been 
impacted due to oil spill. Crude oil coats roots, pneuamtophores 
and even young plants thus disrupting oxygen transport to the 
roots (Baker 1971). Petroleum is readily absorbed by the 
lipophylic substance on the surface of the leaves leading to 
severe metabolic alterations such as displacement of fatty 
molecules by oil hydrocarbons, destruction of cellular 
permeability and dissolution of hydrocarbons. in lipid 
component of chloroplasts. The first visible stress signal is the 
shedding of leaves. Oil spillage in the Gulf occurs from oil