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Corals to be protected up to 12 nautical miles


HERALD CORRESPONDENT
Corals to be protected up to 12 nautical miles
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, SEPT 1

The Environment and Forest Ministry is aiming at protection of corals not only between the low and high tide lines but up to 12 nautical miles into the sea beyond India’s coastline.

The current CRZ (Coastal Regulatory Zone) notification effectively protects only intertidal corals that lie between low tide and high tide line while the new notification will protect corals from harmful activities in the sea like dredging for ports.

The proposed protection to be provided under the new Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2010 being readied for enforcement this year itself will ensure that all corals are protected from anthropogenic activities that can indirectly have a negative impact on corals, says a ministry statement on its website on status of coral protection in India.

The exercise is to give further teeth to the Wildlife Protection Act that protects all corals as Schedule I species under which touching, removing, or dislocating corals in any fashion is a prohibited activity in the Indian territorial waters.

Also under the new CRZ notification, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Lakshwadeep Islands, will have separate management plans to explicitly prohibit any anthropogenic activity negatively impacting corals in these two archipelagos. India’s greatest coral reserves are found in these islands.

The source article can be found here:
http://oheraldo.in/news/Local%20News...les/40483.html