Status of Bay of Bengal: An ecological point of view

Abstract

The marine resources are a major source of food, a reservoir of minerals, major suppliers of oxygen, regulator of climate. It is also an ultimate dumping ground for the mounting burden of human waste material. Due to unchecked anthropogenic activity in recent years, the physico-chemical and biological status of the marine environments have changed significantly. This has resulted in the changing environmental scenario of the world. The Bay of Bengal, is one of the largest Bay in the world known to receive large flow of sediments from several rivers and other water bodies from India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indonesia etc., Many of these rivers bring along with them, a large quantity of effluents from cities / towns located on either side of these rivers, thus making the Bay nutrient rich. This Bay also plays a major role in determining the climatic conditions of India and other South East Asian countries. Thus its ecology is of paramount interest. Further, the Bay is also known for its oligotrophic nature as well low productivity, thus resulting in high diversity of flora and fauna. The ecological status of the Bay has a direct bearing on the lifescape of the Bay, and therefore, a study was undertaken to understand abiotic and biotic factors with special reference to zooplankton. Based on the observations, the study recommends certain appropriate measures to be taken to conserve the ecology of one of the largest Bay in the world.