Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System Programme(COMAPS)
The Ministry of Ocean Development (MoOD) is continuously carrying out the research activities of monitoring the coastal water quality on long-term basis in order to understand the trend of pollution level. There are 25 parameters on physical, chemical biological and microbiological characteristics of water and sediment are being sampled at 81 transects/locations ( the number fluctuates based on the pollution levels in the transects) at various frequencies with the participation of 10 reputed National Laboratories and Universities. The coastal state-wise scenario of pollution sources and its trend based on the data collected till 2004 has found that quality of coastal waters beyond 2 km is found to be clean except Mumbai, where it is beyond 5 km from the shore.

In addition to regular monitoring of coastal waters, the data base on GIS is being developed on marine pollution and analysis of pesticide residue in the edible marine organisms under COMAPS programme. The residue in Indian sea food was found very well with in the permissible limits.

Costal Research Vessels
The Vessel Management Cell (VMC) of National Institute of Ocean Technology operates, maintains and manages the two coastal research vessels, namely, Sagar Purvi and Sagar Paschimi. These vessels are being used for pollution monitoring under Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System (COMAPS), data buoy programme and also for Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management programmes. Further, these vessels are being utilised by over 15 institutions along the west and east coast of India by effectively utilising the ship times for various programmes.

Integrated Costal and Marine area management
During the Tenth Plan period, programmes such as “Shoreline Management”, “Tidal Inlets Management”, “Ecosystem Modelling”, “Marine Ecotoxicology”’, “Application of Ocean Colour Monitoring in sediment transport studies”, have been formulated and are being implemented. In addition, the Ministry has expanded its activities on the following areas for detailed investigations:

• The coastline of the country has been facing severe erosion in the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal and in Union Territories of Pondicherry, Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep.


• The ICMAM programme on “Shoreline Management” presently aims to fulfill understanding of the coastal processes at Ennore (Tamilnadu), Munambam to Kayamkulam (Kerala) and along Gahirmatha coast (Orissa) where shoreline changes are prominent in the last few years.


• A number of new Ports, both minor and medium are being planned along the coastal areas. Since the port structures like jetties and breakwaters are likely to cause adverse impacts such as erosion. Hence, ICMAM-PD would conduct training programme especially on adoption of EIA guidelines and development of environment management plans to the coastal states and R&D institutions through capacity building programmes.

The ICMAM Project Directorate has planned to carry out modeling of propagation of tsunami waves and their inundation in the coastal areas as a part of the programme of Tsunami Early Warning system. This programme is likely to be continued during the Eleventh Plan. As a part of this programme, development of model Coastal Risk Atlas for each State / UT be incorporated containing details of location of hazard line, risk areas including infrastructure and establishments at risk. Concerned coastal state agencies will be trained to develop similar Atlas for other areas in the State/UT.

Development of potential drugs from the Ocean
The National Project on “Development of Potential Drugs from the Ocean” was taken up for implementation from 1990-91 with a view to harnessing the potential marine flora and fauna for extraction of drugs for medicinal purposes. The research activities include-Systematic collection and identification of marine organisms, extraction and evaluation of medicinal properties of products derived from marine organisms till completion of clinical trials and development of products from the pure molecules. The nodal Institute, Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow has been entrusted the responsibility of coordination and implementation; reconfirmation of bioactivity encountered by the other participating Institutions, elucidation of chemical structure by way of spectrometry and high throughput screening, testing in laboratory animal models, etc., so as to utilise their international standard infrastructure facilities and their expertise.

The Ministry has re-orientated this programme with the focus on exploratory and product development activities and initiated action to induct more institutional participation including pharmaceutical industry. Collection of wide range of marine organisms even from deep sea and islands and screening for 16 different bio-activities (viz., (i) Anti-cancer; (ii) Immunomodulatory; (iii) Anti-hyperglycemic; (iv) Wound healing; (v) Anti-fungal; (vi) anti-protozoal; (vii) Antibacterial; (viii) Anti-inflammatory; (ix) Anti-viral; (x) Anti-hyperglycemic; (xi) Anti-hyperlipidemic; (xii) Spasmolytic; (xiii) CNS; (xiv) Pesticidal and Anti-allergic). The routine experiments and defined protocols both for pre-clinical and clinical studies are being carried out continuously. The assays for the drug/metabolite(s) concentrations in bio-samples are developed and validated as per the international guidelines.

Achievements made so far
Under this programme more than 6500 marine samples have been collected and screened. At least three potential drugs are identified which are in advanced stages of development. The anti-diabetic compound is in clinical trial, Phase-I. The remaining two more compounds having combined potentials for anti-hyperglycemic-cum-anti-hyperlipidemic activities, are found to be safe as per the analysis of regulatory pharmacology. Nine more new leads [ (a) Anti-hyperglycemic; (b) Anti-hyperlipidaemic (c) Anti-fungal; and (d) Anti-viral] are in pipeline for further optimisation of various pharmacological activities.

Development of GIS based information system for 11 critical habitats: To assess the status of some of the critical coastal habitats like coral reefs, mangroves, etc., and to suggest suitable management plans for protection, conservation and restoration, Development of Information System using GIS was taken up during the 9th plan period. Development of GIS based information system for 11 habitats namely, Gulf of Khambat, Karwar islands, Gulf of Kachchh, Cochin island Sunderbans, Malvan, Kadmat island, Gulf of Mannar, Pichavaram, Coringa and Gahirmatha was also taken up. The application of GIS as a tool for assessing the status of the critical habitats, such as mangroves, coral reefs, sea grass beds, wetlands and other coastal eco-systems, has revealed that more than the natural causes, the human perturbation has resulted in severe damage to these eco-systems. Based on the extensive studies carried out by the Project Directorate (PD), ICMAM on Development of GIS based Information System for these critical habitats, a number of suggestions/ recommendations have been made to the coastal states for conservation and management of these critical habitats, based on sustainability principles.

Development of Guidelines for Environmental Impact Assessment
Guidelines have been developed for conducting Environmental Impact Assessment studies in the Ports and Harbours and Marine transportation sectors, tourism related activities in the coastal marine areas, waste disposal from domestic and industrial sources including discharge of waste through pipelines, etc.

Development of model ICMAM plans for Chennai, Goa and Gulf of Kutch
The draft ICMAM plan for Chennai has been finalised based upon the comments received from various stakeholders the report. A Decision Support System (DSS) was developed to address the cross-sectoral issues like accretion/erosion, pollution, tourism and human settlements by selecting Ecology, Environment and Economy as the criteria. Various options of the interventions such as provision of training jetties to keep open the tidal inlets, beach nourishment to protect the coast from erosion and effluent treatment to improve the water quality, were analysed using DSS. The design, structure and basic requirement of DSS including Activity, Impact, Entity and Attribute (AIEA) inputs were finalised towards the preparation of Model ICMAM Plan for Goa and Gulf of Kachchh, Further, a prototype Decision Support System (DSS) for Chennai has also been developed as a standalone package in Windows environment. This package contains a powerful user interface and thus facilitates the decisionmakers to identify the various coastal activities and their cross impacts on ecology, economy and society and evaluates best strategies in a digital framework in a user-friendly environment.

Marine Eco-toxicology and R & D activities have also been undertaken during the Tenth Five-year plan period. The main aim of this study is to develop specific habitat/water quality criteria to facilitate better management of marine and associated ecosystems in view of growing problems like pollution and waste disposal, etc., so that the levels prescribed for various chemical elements in this criteria/standard can be properly assessed for their suitability for coastal waters and specific ecosystems like corals, mangroves, etc. As a part of eco-toxicological studies, to assess the toxic effects of pollutants and their tolerance levels in marine organisms during the X Five-Year Plan period, involving various universities and research institutes, a Trace Metal laboratory has been set-up, aiming at delineating the toxic effects of metals and their threshold limits on various marine organisms. This infrastructure will serve as a National Facility.

The PD-ICMAM is now equipped with state-of-the-art computing facility and training facility to house a long-term training programme for utilising the capacity built under the Capacity Building Programme. The training is provided to the coastal states in the development of ICMAM Plans and use of GIS in the management of critical habitats. Further R&D activities included determination of Best Designated Use Classification of Coastal Waters, Coastal Habitat Studies, Shoreline Management and Satellite Based R&D Programme.