20% mangroves along Goa Galgibaga river destroyed in October flooda

Around twenty per cent of mangroves along the banks of Mashem-Galgibgaga-Tolpona river were destroyed in October 2009 floods. The floods also damaged twenty five per cent of other plants alongside the river. According to local environmentalists, the main mangrove areas in Canacona are in Maxem, Galgibaga and Tolpona and the maximum damage took place along Maxem-Galgibaga river bank and as such there is an urgent need to initiate steps to carry out the afforestation otherwise soil erosion would take place on a massive scale.

Goa:Mangrooves

Mr Bhanudas Naik Gaonkar and Mr Manoj Naik Gaonkar, both environmentalists and school teachers, said that mangroves saved around ten per cent of the houses in the last October floods and also the lives of several cattle. They further said that mangroves protect shorelines from getting damaged from storms, hurricane winds, and waves. "Mangroves also help prevent soil erosion by stabilizing sediments with their tangled root system. They maintain water quality and clarity, filtering pollutants and trapping sediments originating from land."

Mr Bhanudas Naik Gaonkar pointed out that "mangroves, admittedly, are not only important but crucial for the coastal areas. Since estuarine areas are highly populated areas, the slightest ecological imbalance will take a heavy toll. They play a vital role in stabilizing these areas. No engineering and technological solutions can be sought for stabilizing these areas. Even if we negate all benefits of mangroves as forests, their value as protector of shoreline is enough to convince us for conserving them."

Out of total 15 types of mangroves found in Goa around nine to ten types of mangroves are found in Canacona, he stated adding to preserve them is the need of hour. According to Mr Omu Dhuri, a traditional fisherman and former councillor, mangrove forests and estuaries are the breeding grounds for a number of marine organisms, including the commercially important shrimps, crabs and other fish.

Mangroves are being now looked upon by the scientists as saviours in the today's scenario of global warming. Most of the coastal areas throughout the world are going to be affected by sea level rise due to global warming, the effects of which are already visible. Therefore, when most of the coastal areas will be flooded, mangroves can possibly provide a gene bank for cultivating salt tolerant species of crops which could be our future resource.

In fact, the mangroves in Canacona and Pernem talukas too, and some small patches in Bardez and Tiswadi talukas are worth their weight in gold — they are repositories of an array of biodiversity and nurseries for fishes, a large number of birds including darters, herons, curlews and plovers, etc. The Indian monitor lizard as well as the marsh crocodiles besides other species have been documented in Goa's mangroves, informed Mr Manoj Naik Gaonkar.

Due to the last year's floods, the estuarine rivers of Mashem-Galgibaga and Talpona in Canacona taluka have developed spits at their mouths giving apprehensions that this phenomenon could make the rivers lose their identity and the only solution to keep a check on the phenomenon is desiltation of rivers at the earliest, added the environmentalists.