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

Gulf of Kachchh
marine life. Out of 42 islands, 33 islands have coral
reefs and 20 islands are fringed with mangroves.
Bural-Chank, Kalubhar, Paga, Chandri, Narara
and Pirotan are the largest islands with coral
reefs in the Gulf of Kachchh. Biologicaldiversity of
the area is attributed to the varied habitats, which
support over 103 species of algae, 10 species of
mangroves,. about 279 coastal flora, about 74
species of sponges, 52 species of soft and hard
corals, 4 species of sea anemones, 144 species of
fishes, 27 species of prawns, 21 species of crabs,
200 species of molluscs, 3 species of turtles, 3
species of snakes and 5 species of mammals and
about 200 species of birds. Colorful sponges and
corals, reef fishes, prawns, lobster, pearl oyster,
window pane oyster, sea horse, giant sea anemone,
sea hare, puffer fish, shark, cat fish, ray fish, star
fish, sea urchin, Sabella, Bonellia, dugong, sea
turtle and dolphin are important marine life in
this area (Singh 1994 & GEER, 2002).
III. Population Profile
The coastal area, upto 20 km. from the shoreline,
is 30,022.25km', which is 15.3%of the state. Most
of the land area is utilized for cultivation
purposes. 25% of area is not available for
cultivation. This is where the habitation and
natural wealth exists.
Table 8 : Coastal Gulf of Kachchh with number of villages in the
periphery of20 km.
District Taluka No. of No. of Coastal Population
towns villages area Km' Urban Rural
Kachchh Lakhpat 0 56 6,749.77 2,50,382 3,61,865
Abdasa 1 109
Mandvi 1 64
Mundra 1 56
Anjar 3 48
Bhachau 1 58
Rajkot Maliya 0 36 576.71 0 58.310
Morbi 0 5
Jamnagar Jodiya 1 48 4,863.53 5,72,486 4,75,947
Dhrol 1 11
Jamnagar 5 78
Lalpur 1 31
Khambhalia 2 69
Dwarka 5 77
Kalyanpur 0 45
Total 22 791 12,190.01 8,22,868 8,96,115
Source: Census J .1991
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Based on the 1991 census, the 20km coastal belt
around the Gulf has human population of 1,718,990
with the desert region of Kachchh having a low
population density of 54 persons/km'. The
population density is higher in other two districts
and is centered around 100 persons/km'. The
literacy rate which is low (38%) in the Kachchh
district increases in Rajkot (43%) and Jamnagar
(40%) districts. Of the total working population,
agricultural workers constitute the majority. The
sex ratio (average of rural and urban population)
in Kachchh, Jamnagar and Rajkot districts was
96,94 and 95 (rural) respectively. In urban areas of
Kachchh and Jamnagar districts the literacy
percentage was 56 and 59 respectively.
The landuse pattern in these 3 districts indicate
that about 85% of the forest cover of the coastal
region falls in the Kachchh district while the
Jamnagar district has only 14%. The coastal belt
of the Jamnagar district however has 64% of the
total cultivable land in 20 km zone with the
Kachchh district having about 35%. Cotton is the
dominant crop in the Kachchh district while oil
seeds dominate the agricultural produce in the
other two districts. Other major crops are wheat,
bajra, sugar cane, spices and pulses.
Due to extreme unreliability of rainfall, the
agriculture is largely fed by extracting ground
water, which is apparently a
more reliable source of water,
particularly in the Kachchh
district. However, due to
faster rate of withdrawal
from shallow as well as deep
aquifers relative to the rate
recharge, a sharp decline in
the water table has occurred
with the rise in salinity.
Salinity encountered within
the region originates from
two sources. One is inherent
due to marine origin of
geological formations and the
other because of seawater
ingress from the adjoining
coast. Lakhpat and Anjar
talukas have been
categorised as over exploited
while in Mandvi, Bachau,
Mudra and Abdasa talukas
all in Kachchh district and
Jodia and Okhamandal in