Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park to get 500 buoys soon C. Jaishankar “Legal hurdles that delayed the procurement sorted out” —

Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park to get 500 buoys soon

C. Jaishankar
“Legal hurdles that delayed the procurement sorted out”
— Photo: L. Balachandar

Strategies: Chief Wildlife Warden S. Sundarraju speaking at the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve Management Plan meeting in Ramanathapuram on Friday. Aruna Basu Sarcar, Director, GOMBRT, and others look on.
RAMANATHAPURAM: The Chief Wildlife Warden and the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, S. Sundarraju, said that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) would soon supply 500 buoys for visible demarcation of Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park (GMMNP).

Speaking to The Hindu here on Friday after presiding over a meeting of forest officials and scientists to discuss about the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve Management Plan, he said the legal hurdles that resulted in delay in procurement of buoys had been sorted out.

Moreover, instead of the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve Trust (GOMBRT) purchasing the buoys, it was decided to entrust this job with the UNDP, which was the main funding agency of conservation project of Gulf of Mannar. It had already floated tenders to procure 350 buoys. In addition to this, the UNDP had also been asked to procure 150 more buoys. An Australian company was likely to supply the High Density Polyethylene (HDP) buoys. Efforts were on to speed up the process of getting buoys as early as possible.

Mr. Sundarraju said the total circumference of GMMNP was 250 km. One buoy would be floated on every 500 meters. The demarcation was important to prevent fishermen from entering the protected area.

“Revise the plan”
The meeting on management plan, which was prepared by the Wildlife Institute of India, felt that it was not up to the mark. A lot of ground level information and latest date on coral reef, sea grass and others had been missed out. It had to be improved and updated. Hence it was decided to form a committee, which would be supervised by him and the Chief Conservator of Forest and the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve Trust Director Aruna Basu Sarcar, to prepare a revised management plan based on threat perceived and other details. It would be drawn within September and it would subsequently be submitted to the Government of India to get more funds.

Inadequate infrastructure
The Chief Wildlife Warden added that the overall human resources and other infrastructure were inadequate for the effective enforcement of laws in biosphere reserve area, as the area of operation was huge. It had to be strengthened in terms of personnel, equipment, boats, communication and others.

Besides Ms. Sarcar, Conservator of Forest Rampathy, the Eco Development Officer V. Naganathan, Wildlife Warden S. Shenbagamoorthy, District Forest Officer S.L. Gupta and Divisional Forest Officer Rakesh Jegannia were present.