KOCHI: The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have joined hands to map, validate and protect smaller wetlands in the coastal belt of the country.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the CMFRI and the Space Applications Centre (SAC) of the ISRO to develop a mobile app and a centralised web portal with a complete database of wetlands smaller than 2.25 hectares in the country.
As per the MoU, the two scientific institutes will identify and demarcate wetlands, and restore the degraded wetlands through suitable livelihood options like coastal aquaculture. The app will be used for real-time monitoring of the wetlands and giving advisories to stakeholders and coastal people.
The collaborative move is part of a national framework for fisheries and wetlands recently developed by the National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) project of CMFRI. The NICRA project aims to find ways and means to mitigate the impact of climate change in marine fisheries and coastal region.
The real-time data of demarcated coastal wetlands would greatly help to develop a conservation plan for degraded wetlands in the region besides utilising these resources for livelihood prospects such as shrimp and crab farming in the area, said Principal Scientist P U Zacharia, who is also the principal investigator of NICRA project.