Remote sensing application in the conservation and management of coastal bio resources of the Palk Bay, Southeast coast of India

Abstract

Various resources of the Palk Bay, Southeast coast of India viz. coral reefs, reef vegetation, denseseagrass beds, sparse seagrass beds, dense mangroves and sparse mangroves were classified throughvisual interpretation and digital image processing method using IRS-LISS - III (1996,2000,2002 &2004) satellite data. The resource maps were generated and reclassified after intensive ground truthverifications. The Palk Bay has shown an areal extent of 286.95 ha of reef area during 2004, whichis 177.54 ha lesser than that of the reef area of 1996. The reef vegetation composed mainly ofseaweeds, has gained over 29.44 ha and sand over reef area also has increased alarmingly i.e. 120.34ha during the same period. The study has revealed the reduction of dense seagrass beds by 785.5 habetween 1996 and 2004 while the sparse seagrass beds have gained 513.68 ha during this period. Thesparse mangrove cover area has increased to about 36.45 ha and there is also a 2.99 ha increase inthe dense mangrove cover. Various reasons for the changes have been identified and based on whichsuitable plans have been suggested for the effective conservation and management of the importantbio-resourccs of the Palk Bay.