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

has mainly sandy soil. As the part of tropical rain
forest, this area has luxuriant growth of terrestrial
herbs, shrubs and trees. Thongh lot of damages
have been done to the ecosystem, some mangrove
vegetation still remains.
iv. Short summary of vegetation and animal life
a. Vegetation:
Coffee, Indian rubber plant, black pepper, and tea
plantations are specialities of this area. Most of
the terrestrial plants are represented here. Part of
Vembanad Lake has rich representatives of many
species of mangroves.
b. Animal life:
Vembanad Lake, with an estuarine environment,
has rich representation of fish and other aquatic
life. The most important being the penaeid
prawns and giant freshwater prawn. The
mangrove vegetation supports a wide variety of
birds and mammals.
III. Population Profile
There were 1,38,691 houses, contributing a
population of 7,52,866 around the lake. Among
these houses 17,369 belonged to fishermen, with a
population of 95,182. The members in the
fishermen and non-fishermen households' number
was 5.48 and 5.42 respectively (Kurup et al.,
1989). However, in a census done on fisher folk by
the Directorate of fishery in 1982, the average
number of members in fishermen households was
found to be 6.56.
1. Occupational status
A total of 23,992 fishermen are actively engaged in
fishing; 7,650 fishermen are engaged in related
activities like middlemen and vendors of fresh fish.
Among the fisherfolk 5.54% are engaged in fishery
allied occupations whereas 6.91% work in other
fields not connected with fishery. Even among the
non-fishermen category a few get their earnings
from fishery related occupations, though the
percentage is very small (0.37%). Further, 24.76%
of the non-fishermen category finds their livelihood
from other fields of activities. On the whole only
3.19% of the total population in the area covered
are active fishermen.
85
Vembanad Lake
IV. Biodiversity And Conservation Values
1. Flora
Typical tropical rain forest is visible in most of the
parts of Kerala. Luxuriant forest vegetation is
noticed and the families Rubiaceae,
Sterculearaceae, Verbenaceae, Compositae,
Euphorbiaceae, Apocynaceae, Leguminoceae,
Asclipidiacea, etc., coffee, Indian rubber, black
pepper and tea plantations are some of the
specialty of this area.
a. Mangrove vegetation of Vembanad Lake :
The numerous rivers flowing towards the Arabian
sea, with their large load of sediments created
various pits and offshore bars in the near shore
regions and the body of water behind these formed
the nuclei of the present day lagoons and
estuaries. In general, the mangroves are confined
to very small pockets by the bank of these
estuaries and adjacent river system. A number of
mangrove vegetations worth preservation and
conservation are located. Out of them
Kumarakomn, which is located on the side of
Vembanad lake is the largest.
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