Impact of Overexploitation of Shellfish: Northeastern Coast of India

India has a very extensive coastline of about 7515 km, rich in diverse living resources. These resources continue to deteriorate with rampant harvesting or are altered for other uses such as aquaculture and fisheries. The present paper deals with degrading coastal habitats in northeastern India, and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ambio 2003-02, Vol.32 (1), p.70-75
Main Authors: Bhattacharya, Asokkumar, Sarkar, Santosh Kumar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Aquaculture
Biodiversity
Bivalvia
Coastal ecology
Coasts
Conservation of Natural Resources
Crustacea
Ecological sustainability
Ecosystem
Ecosystems
Humans
India
Littoral ecosystems
Marine
Marine ecosystems
Natural resources conservation
Penaeus monodon
Population Dynamics
Poultry
Refuse Disposal
Shellfish
Shrimp
Species
Water Pollutants
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Summary:India has a very extensive coastline of about 7515 km, rich in diverse living resources. These resources continue to deteriorate with rampant harvesting or are altered for other uses such as aquaculture and fisheries. The present paper deals with degrading coastal habitats in northeastern India, and projects the intensity of the stress arising from the collection of tiger prawn seeds (Penaeus monodon) for aquacultural farms and molluskan shells for poultry feed and edible lime. Indiscriminate exploitation of these resources leads to a heavy reduction of the species concerned and other associated marine communities. The magnitude of such destruction has been quantified. The impacts of biodiversity loss and their after-effects on the ecobalance of this coastal system have become a matter of great concern to ecologists to maintain security and sustainability. The authors propose a public awareness program on themes relating to the importance of biodiversity for human livelihoods.
ISSN:0044-7447
1654-7209
DOI:10.1579/0044-7447-32.1.70