CHENNAI: Even as efforts are on to restore the coral reefs along the country’s coastal waters, native marine ecology is facing a new threat in the form of alien soft corals.
“Invasive alien species like soft corals are a threat to the Blue economy,” Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) director K Venkataraman said on Saturday.
Speaking to Express on the sidelines of a meeting organised by National Maritime Foundation to discuss ‘The Blue Economy - Prospects and Challenges for India’, he said dispersal of soft corals was through the ballast water of ships and there is an urgent need to study the occurrence and impact of invasive species in coral reefs.
This soft corals monopolise the food and space of coral system that harbours 25 per cent of total marine biodiversity, he pointed out.
Highlighting the loss of pearls in Thoothukudi, he however said the artificial coral reefs programme was a success. “Results during the last one year are proof of the success of artificial coral reefs that were immersed in shallow waters,” Venkataraman said.
According to him sea cucumber, a marine organism found in the coral reef areas, should be retained in Schedule I Category of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. “There have been moves to lift the ban on sea cucumber but any such move would result in disaster,” he warned.
Commodore R S Vasan, director Chennai Centre for China Studies, acknowledged the Modi government providing maritime thrust. “India is now looking at both the imediate and the extended maritime neighbourhood with greater interest to ensure that it does not concede strategic space to China, an extra regional power,” he said.