IMTA) in Maharashtra

Mapping of coastal resources and identifying suitable areas for expanding integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) in Maharashtra Report period - October 2018 to March 2019 Introduction The aquaculture is an inexpensive source of protein and an important cash crop in many regions of the world, and water is the physical support in which they carry out their life functions of aquatic organisms. Water quality is determined by various physio-chemical and biological factors, as they may directly or indirectly affect health and growth of fish and other aquatic animals. So they all living organisms have tolerable limits of water quality parameters in which they perform optimally. Therefore, there is the need to ensure that, these environmental factors are properly managed and regulated for good survival and optimum growth of fish. The role of various factors like temperature, Depth, Water current flow, turbidity, dissolved Oxygen, pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, and chlorophyll a are the influencing factors for expanding integrated multi- trophic aquaculture (IMTA) in Maharashtra state. Shrimp aquaculture area has increased from 65,100 ha in 1990-91 to 130948 ha in 2015-16 and continue to grow further. The success of shrimp farming opened up the floodgates for investments in shrimp farming projects and this trend was strengthened by the adoption of scientific farming technology by a section of private entrepreneurs. During early 1990s, there was a gold rush for shrimp farming which resulted in unregulated rapid growth This has raised some environmental concerns such as conversion of important coastal ecosystems like lakes, mangroves and agricultural lands to aquaculture farms and salinization of soil and drinking water resources. With the large unutilized brackishwater areas, use of other land classes such as agriculture, mangroves indicated that there was not planning for development of aquaculture. Due to the environmental issues, aquaculture has been regulated with the enactment of Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA) Act 2005. Under this act, CAA was established and empowered to regulate coastal aquaculture by regulating aquaculture development. The existing regulatory guidelines include, no new farms to be established within 200m from high tide line, non- use of agricultural lands and mangroves and provision of various buffer-zones between different land types. Planning for sustainable aquaculture development and formulation of master plan requires, adhering to CAA guidelines, Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), integrating aquaculture with coastal zone management plans and site-specific designing of farms. Aquaculture planning and management, like many other natural resource based economic activities, is inherently spatial. The conventional methods used in estimation of aquaculture areas such as manual surveying, collection of secondary data from the farmers field or revenue records are labour intensive, time consuming, non-repetitive, inaccessible to remote areas, low in accuracy and not synoptic. It does not provide information on the associated land features of aquaculture farms. Hence, there is a need for a mechanism to get real time data with its associated features for the larger area assessment so that coastal resources can be utilized effectively. Remote sensing integrated with GIS can play a major role in sustainable shrimp culture development by providing information on land use/land cover, water quality, productivity, tidal influence and coastal infrastructure. These tools helps us to maintain the sustainability of shrimp culture through proper site selection by considering the impact of the development on other land use activities like agriculture, protected areas like sanctuaries, human uses etc that are part of the same eco system. By using remote sensing technique and GIS, the advantage is not only in time and cost effectiveness but also in achieving a more comprehensive and integrated pattern of aquaculture development criteria, which is difficult through conventional techniques Specific objectives of the study: ❖ To conduct the preliminary survey and identify the suitable areas for IMTA in Palghar, Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg districts of Maharashtra ❖ To assess land use pattern from satellite data and GIS, carrying capacity, water availability and water quality characteristics in the major source water bodies to select the suitable areas for IMTA through GIS based MCDSS Assessment of suitability of environmental factors such as waterbodies characteristics, quality and land and water resource pattern. The present study was carried out for five districts of Maharashtra (Palghar, Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg). Water samples were collected from selected location of creeks and rivers associated with mangroves environments. Water bodies characteristics such as Depth, Water Current flow, Temperature, Salinity, pH and Dissolved Oxygen were analysed immediately on the sampling location and chlorophyll a content also filtered on the same day. The Chemical and Biological parameters such as Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia, Phosphate, Total Phosphorus and Chlorophyll a were measured after brought to the laboratory as per standard procedures. Estimation of water quality parameters 1. Temperature (°C) - The temperature was measured using standard mercury centigrade thermometer (0˚- 110˚C) accuracy. 2. pH - The hydrogen ion concentration was measured using a pH pen (ERMA-035) with an accuracy of ± 0.1. pH pen was recalibrated with standard buffer solutions of pH 7.0 and 9.0 before the water testing. 3. Salinity (ppt) - Salinity was measured using a hand-held Refractometer (ATAGO: 0341109, Japan) 4. Turbidity was measured by using the Nephelometric method (Turbidity meter-Model- ELICO CL52D) 5. Water Current Flow in Creeks and river was measured by Current Flow meter (FP211 water velocity meter BB1100) and expressed as feet/second. 6. Dissolved oxygen (DO) was measured using Digital DO meter -Thermo scientific, ORION STAR, A223 and expressed in mg/l. 7. Chlorophyll a concentration was estimated by pigment extraction method using 90% acetone. Extracted samples were kept for incubation in the refrigerator under the dark condition and the pigment concenntration was obtained through UV-VIS spectrophotometer (Shimadzu-UV-1800) at 630 nm, 645 nm, and 665 nm (Strickland and Parsons, 1972) and given in mg/l. 8. Ammonia (NH4) was measured using Spectrophotometric method by Strickland and Parsons (1972) 9. Nitrite (NO2) - Nitrite was determined by using Spectrophotometriic method as described by Strickland and Parsons (1972) and given in mg/l. 10. Nitrate (NO3) - Nitrate was measured by using the spectrophotommeetric method as described by Strickland and Parsons (1972) and given in mg/l. 11. Phosphate (PO4) Phosphate was measured by using the spectrophotometric method as described by Strickland and Parsons (1972) and given in mg/l. PALGHAR DISTRICT Water quality in Dahanu Riverr, Ghivali Creek, Banganga Riveer, Murba Creek, Murpo satpathi River, Makunsar Creek and VVaitarna River covering villages Dahanu, Dhumkhet, Chandigone, Pale, Matgaon, Dhakati Dahanu, Agwaon, Asangaon, Ghivale, Pantambi, Dandi, Vikaswadi, Daboli, Mochimar Kelve, MMakunsar, Zenda Aali, Datiware, Vehaloli, Kharmendi, Tembhikhodave, Kasarali, Karvele, Vadhi, Khardi and Vedhi were assessed in Palghar district and results are given in Table 1 & 2. Figure 2a-2d &3a-3i indicates the spatiall interpolation map of the creeks water quality parameters in Pallghar district. Figures 3-15 indiicates the assessment of physical characteristics of waterbodies. Fig 1. Sampling location & source water bodies mapping in Palghar District Fig. 2a Fig. 2b Fig. 2c Fig. 2d Fig.2 Mapping of creeks water quality parameters in Palghar district. 2a. Depth; 2b. Current flow; 2c. Water temperature; 2d. Turbidity Fig. 3a Fig. 3b Fig. 3c Fig. 3d Fig. 3e Fig. 3f Fig.3 Spatial interpolation mapping off creeks water quality parameters in Palghar district 3a. Salinity; 3b. pH; 3c. DO; 3d. NH3; 3e. NO2; 3f. NO3 Fig.3 Spatial interpolation mapping off creeks water quality parameters in Palghar district 3a. Salinity; 3b. pH; 3c. DO; 3d. NH3; 3e. NO2; 3f. NO3 Fig. 3g Fig. 3h Fig.3 Spatial interpolation mapping of creeks water quality parameters inn Palghar district 3g. PO4; 3h. TPO4; & 3i. Chlorophyll a Fig.4. Measurements of Physical Characteristics of Dahanu Creek in Agwaon village at Palghar District Fig.5. Characteristics of Dahanu Creek in Dahanu village at Palghar District Fig.6. Characteristics of Dahanu Creek in Asangaon village at Palghar District Fig.7. Characteristics of Ghivale Creek and its in Ghivale village at Palghar District Fig.8. Characteristics of Banganga Creek and its surroundings in Pamtembi village at Palghar district Fig.9. Characteristics of Banganga Creek and its surroundings in Dandi village at Palghar district Fig.10. Characteristics of Murba Creek and its surroundings in Vikaswadi village at Palghar district Fig.11. Characteristics of Murpo Satpathi Creek and its surroundings in Daboli village at Palghar district Fig.12. Characteristics of Makunsar Creek and its surroundings in Mochimar Kelve village at Palghar district Fig.13. Characteristics of Makunsar Creek and its surroundings in Makunsar village at Palghar district Fig.14. Characteristics of Makunsar Creek and its surroundings in Zenda Aali village at Palghar district Fig.15. Characteristics of Vaitrana Creek and its surroundings in Karvele village at Palghar district Table 1. Physical

Load more