Zoological Survey to quickly search nod to translocate Nice Nicobar corals | India Information
5 min learnNew DelhiJun 16, 2026 11:40 AM IST
The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) will quickly search a nod from the Division of Setting and Forest, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, for the translocation of over 16,000 coral colonies that will likely be impacted across the Galathea Bay transhipment port web site underneath the Nice Nicobar Island (GNI) undertaking, senior officers instructed The Indian Categorical.
The federal government physique has additionally begun knowledge assortment to measure sediment deposition at coral translocation recipient websites and round current coral colonies to evaluate present sediment masses, stated C Raghunathan, Extra Director and Scientist – F, ZSI.
Translocation of coral colonies to mitigate potential impacts of port building actions, equivalent to capital dredging, is likely one of the key situations laid down within the environmental clearance granted for the Rs 81,000 crore mega undertaking. Capital dredging is undertaken to create deep, navigable channels for giant vessels and alters marine ecology.
Coral colonies, made up of many particular person coral animals known as polyps, want gentle to stay wholesome, and an increase in sediment load from dredging actions can enhance turbidity (cloudiness) and coral smothering, resulting in their loss of life.
Assessing sediment masses
In a problem earlier than the Nationwide Inexperienced Tribunal (NGT) in opposition to the undertaking’s environmental clearance, ZSI had submitted that 16,150 coral colonies discovered inside 15 metres depth of the water column and in proximity of the undertaking could also be impacted due to the undertaking. These coral colonies should be translocated to appropriate recipient websites based mostly on “sediment lure outcomes.”
“ZSI has been assessing sediment load within the port undertaking space in addition to on the recipient websites. Dredging is an intensive exercise and that may trigger turbidity within the waters across the undertaking space. A baseline sediment load evaluation can be essential to gauge the influence on corals,” Raghunathan instructed The Indian Categorical.
Subsequently, ZSI may also search approval from the Ministry of Setting, Forest and Local weather Change (MoEFCC) wildlife division. ZSI has recognized 4 websites on the west coast of the Nice Nicobar Island for coral translocation.
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When requested concerning the success price of transplantation or translocation, Raghunathan cited ZSI’s undertaking within the Gulf of Kutch involving restoration of degraded corals.
The ZSI’s coral conservation plan for the Nice Nicobar undertaking states that the success price of this undertaking diverse from above 90 per cent for restoration to 68 per cent-85 per cent for coral transplants.
It additionally states that coral colonies are to be extracted utilizing a coral-cutting noticed, hammer, chisel, and a hydraulic underwater hammer drill. Coral colonies will likely be translocated fully as a complete object, lifted from the ocean backside, and loaded onto carrying trays mounted on the ship’s backside with raise baggage.
Coral translocation challenges
Specialists, although, known as the duty of transferring complete coral colonies “close to inconceivable.” Marine biologist and impartial researcher Vardhan Patankar, who has been researching coral reefs discovered off the Nicobar islands since 2005, stated that globally, coral translocations have had restricted success.
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Patankar stated that particular person corals and colonies, whose measurement can differ from just a few centimetres to that of a small automobile, take a decade or extra to develop. He stated corals require many oceanographic and ecological components, equivalent to the precise temperature, salinity, alkalinity, nutrient load, present movement, and habitat, throughout translocation.
“No matter little translocation that has occurred entails translocation of fragments of corals and never giant colonies. Coral composition alongside the Galathea River is dominated by Porites, Favia, and different giant boulder corals. A coral colony consists of advanced, interconnected colonies of a number of particular person organisms and maintaining all of them alive after breaking the colony is a close to inconceivable process,” he stated.
Patankar added that the problem is magnified in Nicobar, because the waters right here host a number of the most biodiverse reefs in India, largely as a result of their shut geographic proximity to the ‘coral triangle’, which is the worldwide epicentre of marine biodiversity.
