Reefs do not come to mind when one thinks of India’s coastline as coral reef establishments are limited to the waters around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Palk Bay…
The fisheries sector, within the primary (agricultural) sector of the Indian economy, is a future source of growth. But it is yet to receive adequate policy attention with a futuristic…
The Indian part of the Sundarbans, the vast mangrove forest in the Bay of Bengal, consists of 102 islands, about half of them inhabited. That may not be the case…
Tonnes of fish caught through unsustainable fishing are being used by the fish meal and fish oil (FMFO) industries which supply feed to global aquaculture chains. These are wreaking havoc…
Record high oceanic temperatures triggered an unprecedented global-scale coral bleaching event from 2014 to 2017, which was the longest-lasting and most severe. More than 75 percent of the world’s tropical…
With the annual global climate talks in Madrid sounding the alarm over the world’s oceans coming under assault, a new study describes how scientists are exploring the use of satellites…
The invasive Indian bullfrog, native to the Indian subcontinent, is currently an invasive species in the Andaman archipelago in the Bay of Bengal. Yet, little is known about the impact…
On July 2 this year, two olive ridley turtles were found entangled in fishing nets at Cavelossim, a village in south Goa. “I was there on duty at the time,”…
Off the coast of Red Skin Island in the Andamans, it was a colourful world that marine biologist Vardhan Patankar dived into in the summer of 2016. Here, corals wore…
Among the many threatened marine species in the world, shark populations exhibit some of the most worrying trends. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s latest assessment, 139…
That single-use plastics in oceans can affect coastal habitats, marine organisms and even seafood, is today well documented. But can small fragments of plastic bags and straws change large-scale oceanographic…
Fifty-two-year-old Moreshwar Namdeo Koli is a fisherman whose family has been fishing in the Arabian sea off the Mumbai coast for the past three generations. His is among the 15,000…
“The most extreme thing about the ocean is its sheer, inconceivable size. In that enormous volume – the biggest habitat on earth – lives a kaleidoscope of animals, plants, microbes…
A cross-country crowdsourcing campaign aims to map wildflowers in four countries -- India, Ethiopia, Turkey and Indonesia. The countries have an incredibly high richness of plant species. But updated data…
Restoration of seabird populations can help quicker recovery of reefs following bleaching events, finds a study on coral reefs around the Chagos archipelago in the central Indian Ocean, which were…
Microscopic plastic particles and colourants have been detected inside the commercially important Asian green mussel Perna viridis from a fishing harbour in Chennai for the first time in a preliminary…
This week’s environment and conservation news stories rolled into one. To receive a weekly email with a roundup of our stories, please sign-up to our newsletter. A millennial trains to spruce…
In a mangrove clump in Balasore in coastal Odisha, a youth gingerly snips away at the tangles of a fishing net around an upturned crab-like struggling creature, as it desperately…
What is seagrass? Seagrasses are marine flowering plants, found on all continents except Antarctica. They have roots, stems and leaves and produce flowers and fruits. They are closely related to…
For the underwater-dwelling tape grass Enhalus acoroides, pollination is an adventure where female flowers have their work cut out. The pinkish-green male flowers produce plenty of pollen, encased in long…
