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IAPRS & SIS, Vol.34, Part 7, “Resource and Environmental Monitoring”, Hyderabad, India, 2002
MANAGEMENT OF VITAL COASTAL HABITATS OF GULF OF KACHCHH: AN
INPUT FROM REMOTE SENSING DATA
Anjali Bahuguna®, Shailesh Nayak®, B. Deshmukh?, D.G. Shah? and B.H. Patel’
“Marine & Water Resources Group, Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad - 380015 (anjali@sac.ernet.in)
b Gujarat Ecological Education Research Foundation, Gandhinagar - 382009
Commission VII
KEY WORDS: Vital coastal habitats, remote sensing, vulnerability assessment, environmental appraisal
ABSTRACT:
The increased dependence on the ocean/coast for various industrial, commercial and recreational activities has been causing concern
and major threat to sustaining the biological richness of coastal areas. Long-term management and sustainable development of
coastal resources is urgently required. Most coastal areas of India face increasingly severe problems of rapidly growing human
populations, deteriorating environmental quality, loss of critical habitats, diminishing levels of fish and shellfish populations,
reduced bio-diversity and increased risk from natural hazards. Indian Remote Sensing series of satellites have played valuable role
in providing information on various components of the coastal environment. The database generated using remote sensing data
forms a very valuable input for coastal zone management. The present paper highlights the attempts made towards management of
vital coastal habitats of southern Gulf of Kachchh using RS & GIS techniques. Spatial as well as non-spatial database generated by
monitoring the habitats was analyzed in GIS and model was generated to assess the ecological condition of the vital habitats. Both
the vital. habitats were zoned into good condition, moderate condition and degraded condition based on the criteria for appraising the
environmental condition of the vital habitats. Models have been conceptualized for appraising the environmental conditions of the
vital habitats, defining the habitats at risk (vulnerability index), and modeling for management zonation.
1. INTRODUCTION
India’s coastline of 7500 km includes diverse vital habitats like
coral reef, mangroves, lagoon, estuaries, seagrass beds, algae,
beaches and dunes, etc. As is the case in other countries, India
too faces increasingly severe problems of rapidly growing
human populations, deteriorating environmental quality, loss of
critical habitats, diminishing levels of fish and shellfish
population, reduced biodiversity and increased risk from natural
hazards. Indian Remote Sensing series of satellites have played
valuable role in providing information on various components
of the coastal environment, viz., coastal wetland conditions,
density-wise mapping of mangroves, coastal landforms, land
use, coastal erosion and deposition, suspended sediments
dynamics, etc. on 1:250,000/1:50,000 scale. Ecological
conditions of the vital coastal habitats, viz. mangroves and
coral reefs have been monitored for the entire Indian coast
using multi-temporal satellite data (Nayak & Bahuguna 2001,
Nayak et al. 1992). Information on dominant mangrove
communities have been generated using high-resolution
satellite data for selected areas of the Indian coast. Eco-
morphological zones of coral reefs including live corals and at
places even the type of community (for e.g., massive live coral
colonies of Acropora at Lakshadweep) have been identified for
selected coral reefs of the country. The database generated
using RS data forms a very valuable input for coastal zone
management.
Coastal zone management of integrated type (multiple use
approach) is highly advantageous approach over the traditional
sectoral (single use) approach as it provides a framework for
broad participation and for resolution of conflicts between a
variety of economic and resource conservation needs. The
overall objective of the ICZM is to provide for sustainable use
403
of natural resources, for maintenance of high levels of bio-
diversity and real conservation of critical habitats. It provides
the opportunity to allow policy orientation and development of
management strategies to address the issue of resource use
conflicts and to control the impacts of human intervention on
the environment. Maintaining the species habitats, natural
resource base and management of development processes are
part of ICZM programme.
A considerable amount of work has been done on various
coastal systems using remote sensing and Geographic
Information System (GIS) (Klemas et al. 1993, Donoghue et al.
1994, Fedra 1994, Mumby et al. 1995, Bettinetti et al. 1996,
Everitt et al. 1996, Frihy, 1996, Oregan 1996, Sherin &
Edwardson 1996, El Raey 1997, El Raey et al. 1997, Krishnan
1997, Williams and Lyon 1997). About 70% of the studies
carried out indicate of usefulness of RS data as background for
management planning (Green et al. 2000). An attempt has been
made using remote sensing for appraising the environment,
defining the vulnerability and management zoning of the vital
habitats and the same is being described here for the vital
habitats of a part of the southern Gulf of Kachchh.
2. STUDY AREA
The Gulf of Kachchh has an assemblage of different
ecologically sensitive ecosystems, viz. coral reefs, mangroves,
sea grasses, algae/seaweeds, etc. It is the largest inlet (approx.
7350 km?) of the Arabian Sea, about 60 km wide at its widest
and 170 km long (69°46’-69°65’E longitude and 22°30’-
22°40’N latitude). Due to its rich diversity and fragile nature,
the Govt. of Gujarat, in 1983 declared an area of about 457.92
sq km as the Marine Sanctuary and 162.89 sq km as Marine
National Park. Recent spurt in the rapid industrial development
