Aruna Basu Sarcar, Chief Conservator of Forests and Director, Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve Trust, said that placement of buoys demarcating the core zone of Gulf of Mannar was needed to control poaching in the protected areas.
Presiding over a consultative meeting on promoting seaweed culture held at Central Marine Research Fisheries Institute in Mandapam on Monday, she said that the main aim of placing buoys along the core zone was to educate the fishermen on the need to avoid poaching or collecting seaweed in the protected areas.
Rare species
This would help protect the rare species of marine organisms including corals and others, which would ultimately benefit the fishermen and the local community in the long run.
Urging industries, which were using seaweed as raw materials, not to promote buying seaweed collected from the protected areas, she asked them instead to encourage seaweed culture through modern technologies in other areas.
They should educate the fishermen on protecting the rare species of Gulf of Mannar.
V. Thirunavukkarasu, Wildlife Warden, Nagapattinam, Sundarakumar, Wildlife Warden, Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park, Sakthivel, president, Aquaculture Foundation of India and others also took part.
