The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Company urged to hold water in salt pans for birds

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Friday, Sep 18, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Company urged to hold water in salt pans for birds

Staff Reporter

UNWELCOME: Dried reservoirs at Kodiakkarai threaten the energy replenishment of migratory birds that have started arriving at Point Calimere.

POINT CALIMERE (Nagapattinam): The Bombay Natural History Society has sent a memorandum to Chemplast Sanmar Limited requesting the company to store minimum water in the reservoirs for the migratory birds that have started arriving at Kodiakkarai in Point Calimere.

Chemplast, which owns salt fields here, , pumps seawater and channels them directly to its condensers without storing them in the reservoirs. This has dried up the reservoirs that support a large population of birds. This has an adverse affect on migratory birds that travel from as far as from the Arctic to reach the Vedaranyam swamp.

The dry reservoirs increase the hyper-salinity of the area, which is not conducive for the birds. Considering that Point Calimere is a feeding ground for migratory birds, minimum water serves as shallow mudflats for feeding shore birds.

Arctic migratory birds start arriving from late August onwards and wet mudflats help them replenish their energy after the long flight. Besides, Point Calimere is the country’s largest feeding ground for migratory birds on the east coast.

The BNHS has requested for filling in of the reservoirs with water just up to half feet (6 inches) till the monsoons in order to provide a favourable habitat for the migratory birds. The demand for storing minimum water in the reservoirs before being channelled to the condensers has become a recurrent theme here for the past few years.

The Forest Department has also written to the company asking it to support the activities for advanced bird migration. According to Balachandran, Assistant Director, BNHS, congregations of about 15,000 to 20,000 birds have already been spotted on Monday. The field station of BNHS in Kodiakarrai is its only permanent field station outside Bombay.

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