Marine Biodiversity in India with Special Reference to Conservation, Status and Issues

 The coastal marine ecosystems play an important role in India’s economy by virtue of their natural resources, potential habitats and wide biodiversity. Indian features a long coastal of 8129 kms with Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) 2.5 million sq.km Marine biodiversity affords enormous economic, environmental and aesthetic value to human kind. Humans have long trusted marine aquatic resources for food, medicine and materials also as for recreational and commercial purposes like fishing and tourism. Marine organisms also rely upon the great biodiversity of habitats and resources for food, materials breeding and larval disposal environment. This interdependence is important and maintaining a balance between them is cardinal. But the marine ecosystems are deteriorating at an alarming rate. The factors responsible for it are over exploitation of species, introduction of exotic species, pollution from urban, industrial, and agricultural areas also as habitat loss and alteration of water diversion, excessive use of water resources etc. As a result, valuable marine aquatic resources are becoming increasingly susceptible to both natural and man made environmental changes. this paper deals with the strategies to guard and conserve marine biodiversity which are necessary to take care of the balance of nature and support the supply of natural resources for future generations India features a vast coastline of 8000 km, of which 5,423 km belong to Peninsular India and a couple of ,094 km to the Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands and with an EEZ of two .02 million sq. km. There are about 13,000 recorded marine species in India. Indian coastal zones have a spread of habitats like mangrove, estuarine, coral reefs, sea grass beds, lagoons, sand dunes, rocky shore, cliffs, intertidal mud flats, etc. Coastline of India has also supports nearly 250 million people and therefore the ecological services of marine and coastal ecosystems of India play an important role in India’s economy growth. The marine floral diversity includes 844 species of marine alga (sea weeds) belonging to 217 genera, 14 species of sea grasses and 69 species of mangroves. The marine faunal diversity includes a good sort of life forum. The Indian coastal water harbors 451 species of sponges, quite 200 species of corals, quite 2900 species of crustacean, 3370 species of marine molluscs, quite 200 species of bryozoans, 765 species of echinoderm, 47 species of tunicates, quite 1300 marine fishes, 26 species of sea snakes, 5 species of sea turtles and 30 species of marine mammals including dugong, dolphins, whales, etc. additionally , a good sort of sea birds are often observed round the coast. There are ten species of sharks and rays including Rhincodon typus , all species of sea horses, all cetaceans, dugong, nine species of shells, five species of sea turtles, one species of otter, all species of corals, all species of sponges and every one holothurians that occur in coastal and marine areas of India are considered under threat, therefore, protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 by listing them within the Schedule. Major anthropogenic direct drivers of ecosystem degradation and destruction include habitat conversion to other sorts of land use, overexploitation of species and associated destructive harvesting practices, spread of invasive alien species, and therefore the impacts of pollution from agricultural, domestic and industrial effluents. during this paper, the main issues associated with coastal and marine biodiversity conservation and measures taken to deal with them are highlighted. Biography Sainudeen Sahib is an Environmental Scientist, Science Manager, Educator, Author, Editor and Communicator. Considering his research work and environmental awareness program among public NASA and International Astronomical Union (IAU) had named a asteroid after his name called ‘Pattazhy planet 5178’ in 2008. He has acclaimed wide recognition among global scientific community through his research and has 300 publications, which include scientific papers, reports of research projects also as science articles in newspapers to his credit. He has also authored quite 15 books internationally. He has been Member of Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India to review possible impacts of mobile towers; Expert Member of Indian Council of Medical Research to review impacts of mobile phones on living organisms; Expert Member of Kerala State Wildlife planning board and Expert Member of Environmental Impact Assessment Authority