Polluting Our Seas

A nation-wide marine pollution monitoring programme operating for the last 10 years has identified the extent and areas of pollution and concern.  The Marine Environment is found to be polluted upto a distance of 2 kms,  more or less all along our coast. In many zones across Maharashtra and Gujarat, the sea  is contaminated upto a range of 5 kms and have been demarcated as areas of concern. In coastal marine habitats, areas affected by anthropogenic eutrophication are particularly widespread, persistent and increasing.

Oil pollution is one of the major sources of pollution from marine based activities.  India imports nearly 30 metric tons of petroleum products every year through its major ports located at Kandla, Bombay, Cochin, Madras and Calcutta. India also produces oil through its inshore and offshore oil fields. The total quantity of oil produced from the offshore wells along the Western coast of India is approximately 30 million tons per day. This oil is transported mainly through pipelines and tankers. The western part of the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone, i.e. Arabian Sea adjoining peninsular India, forms the main international tanker route for oil tankers originating from the Persian Gulf. Considering the large volume of oil transported and high rate of tanker movement the probability of accidents are very high - once every few years, with the last major accident in the area occurred in 1993 with spillage of over two of oil in the Nicobar sea.