06-bioresourcesstatu.. - M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation

had recently built his house stated that while he
had received a permit for 150 bags, he had
collected around 300 to complete his house
construction. It is therefore safe to assume that
islanders collect exactly the amount they need
irrespective of what the permit says (Boon Vet al:
2002).
In 1998 another notification was issued which
stated that people desirous of collecting shingle
need to apply for a permit and remit Rs 5/- per bag
of 20 kg that they wished to collect. It is
interesting to note that the number of permit
applicants abruptly declined. Field observations
show that shingle collection is carried on
regardless. The administration therefore has no
longer a record of how much shingle is collected or
benefited' with remittance for shingle collection.
Island stakeholders explain that one needs a
minimum of 400 - 500 bags of shingle in order to
construct a modest two-bedroom house. Each bag
of shingle weighs 20 kg. Which means 8-10 tons of
shingle are required per house constructed.
Islanders also estimate that a minimum of 20
houses are constructed every year. By a
conservative estimate this would mean that (20
houses x 10 tons of shingle) at least 200 tons of
shingle are collected and used within the island.
This estimate is supported by the data collected by
monitoring shingle collection (Boon V et al: 2002).
The people perceive coral shingle collection as
their right and are unable to see how this can
destroy the island. They explain that shingles are
like broken and dead twigs and branches of a tree
that wash ashore. This is part of circle of life and
is utilized for construction on the islands itself.
When the houses break the shingle will return to
the island for island building and hence there can
be no harm In collecting shingle. They wanted an
explanation for the disappearance of Parralli III.
They made the point that no person had ever
collected a shingle or boulder from there and yet
it disappeared.
ii. Government, Non-Government, and
local efforts
a. Local efforts
Local efforts in Lakshadweep is in reality only the
government endeavor to protect the reefs.
Traditional customary laws in Lakshadweep deal
only with harvest sharing and there appear to be
no customary practices towards reef protection.
This despite the fact that every citizen of
Lakshadweep knows that the islands are a
123
Lakshadweep Islands
creation of corals and that the reef protects the
islands from storm damage and wave erosion.
The NGOs in Lakshadweep have come up only to
participate in Government schemes and do not
seem have a vision of their own.
Table 5 describes the management efforts during
the five years and annual plans.
The Lakshadweep Coral reefs are the only atolls
in Indian Territorial waters. The rich marine
reservoir is a national heritage and must be
conserved. The Lakshadweep islands do not boast
of a Protected Area. The Administrator therefore
declared at the National Development Council
meeting in January 1997 "The corner stone of all
policies in the 9'" plan is going to be ecology and
environment". This declaration is based on the
realization that the long-term survival of the
Union Territory depends upon the protection,
preservation and conservation of its unique and
extremely fragile eco-system. All development
plans in the islands have to be ecologically
compatible and must avoid ecological stress. In
pursuance of the above policy, the following
management action plans were initiated.
The Department of Science, Technology and
Environment has recently completed an
Environment Impact Assessment report of the 9'"
plan document in which Environment Impact
statement in respect of each of the schemes
proposed by the plan implementing departments
has been prepared and stated from Chapter 1-15.
The statement which will have a direct beneficial
impact on coral reef management are the
following:
1. Cattle rearing is incompatible with the island
ecology and so should be halted.
2. All toilets should be biological. toilets to
eliminate sewage
3. Stress on Non conventional energy use
4. Environment audit of all existing factories in all
Government and private sectors to be
conducted.
5. The shipping vessels should be so designed that
the wastes generated should not be dumped
into the lagoon but should be stored and
disposed in the seas far from the islands.
6. When new vessels meant to enter the lagoons
are to be procured it should be ensured that the
draft of the vessels should be limited to the
existing depth of the channel and further
deepening, dredging will not be permitted as
prescribed by the CRZMP.