India

Marine Protected Areas in India
India has over 30 official marine protected areas covering over 6200 sq km, and another over 100 areas that are primarily on land or freshwater but have a marine component. Despite this impressive number, these areas only account for approximately 1.3% of the Indian continental shelf.

India’s MPAs protect a large diversity of ecosystems, including extensive wetlands, mangroves, estuaries, lagoons and coral reefs. Some of these areas – particularly coral reefs and mangroves – are intensively protected through MPAs and other government laws and initiatives. The first of these areas was designated in 1967 for bird and wetland protection, and many more have been designated as national park or wildlife sanctuaries.

Though they have designated a number of MPAs, India struggles with many a number of common MPA management issues including poaching, lack of resources, integrating scientific knowledge into management and lack of stakeholder involvement.

Sources

Singh, H.S. 2003. Marine protected areas in India. Indian Journal of Marine Sciences. 32(3):226-233.

Rajagopalan, R. 2008. Marine Protected Areas in India. Samudra Monograph. International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (www.icsf.net) Chennai. pp. 87.