To monitor the levels of various marine pollutants in the coastal and offshore waters of the country, a multi-institutional programme called Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction Systems (COMAPS) is under implementation.A Centre for Marine Analytical Reference and Standards has been established at Regional Research Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram. The Department proposed to develop, jointly with CPCB, a coastal action plan for the control of coastal pollution from the land based activities. The expenditure incurred for COMAPS programme during 1998-99 was Rs 1,498 crore.
Coastal Research Vessels
Two Coastal Research Vessels (CRVs) namely Sagar Purvi and Sagar Paschimi acquired by DOD during 1996-97 for collection of samples from the coastal areas for monitoring the pollution levels in different points, are being managed by a Vessels
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Management Call set up in the National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai. During 1998-99, both these vessels being used by 12 major National Laboratories for their work have successfully completed 28 cruises covering about 160 sampling stations. Another 10 cruises are likely to be carried out by these vessels in March 1999. The critical marine habitat and delicate environment of coral reefs at Lakshadweep were monitored with the help of Sagar Paschimi. Sagar Paschimi was also charted for 11 days by IPSEM, ONGC for oilrig monitoring work. CRVs were also used to collect data on coastal currents, sea bottom and wave parameters for the Pennar Refinery Project. Construction of a multipurpose building for storage, etc., at the land allotted by Chennai Port Trust is underway. The expenditure incurred for CRVs during 1998-99 was Rs 2.50 crore.
Integrated Costal And Marine Area Management
Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management (ICMAM) plans are designed to provide data and decision support for the management of resources of the coastal zone and islands and their environment. The Department has taken up an infrastructure development and capacity building programme to facilitate adoption of the concept of ICMAM in the coming years. The programme focuses on development of expertise in ICMAM oriented activities and dissemination of knowledge gained to the users like coastal States through organised training programmes. An expenditure of Rs 5.815 crore was incurred for ICMAM programme during 1998-99.
Marine Research And Capacity Building
The Department has been implementing the Marine Research and Manpower Development Programmes with active participation of educational institutions, National R&D laboratories, etc. The objective is to encourage research in coastal engineering , marine chemistry , marine biology and microbiology, pharmacology, coastal zone management, exploration and exploitation of marine resources, etc., to create infrastructure facilities in universities/ institutions/organisations and to generate specialist manpower in ocean sector. For promotion of front-ranking research in Ocean Science and Technology and related human resources development three more Ocean Science and Technology Cells (OSTCs), in addition to the five OSTCs set up during 1997-98, were added at Tamil University, Thanjavur (Beach Placers), Annamalai University, Chidambaram (Marine Biology) and Cochin University of S&T, Kochi (Marine Benthos). The expenditure incurred on marine research and capacity building was Rs 3.121 crore during 1998-99.
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