TCSRD Round Up

Coral Reef Conservation Project, Mithapur

Corals are an important component of the marine ecology as they shelter and sustain a diverse form of marine life. Work on monitoring of the biological parameters and the marine biodiversity at the Mithapur reef continued during the reporting period.A new species of sea snake -"the ORNATE Sea Snake", was recorded.

A poster on the 'Reef fishes of Mithapur' has been designed and printed and is ready for release. This is the second in series, the first being the poster on 'Hard Corals of Mithapur reef'.

Save the Whale Shark Project, Mithapur

Four Whale Shark rescues were reported during the month of September '13. A total of 376 Whale Sharks have been rescuedsince the inception of the project with 61rescues being under the new self-documentation scheme.

Survey for review of the Whale Shark self-documentation scheme was completed. Self-addressed post cards with questionnaire on Whale shark pup sightings were designed and have been printed in 4 different languages for distribution along the West Coast of India. This program is expected to help capture information on Whale Shark pup sightings.

The second satellite tag was successfully deployed on a whale shark near Sutrapada coast on 27th December 2013. The purpose of deploying this satellite tag is to monitor the movement of the whale sharks in our coastal waters and understand their migration and foraging biology better.