Fishing Harbour

COASTAL ECOSYSTEM
An ecosystem is an ecological community comprising biological, physical and chemical components and is considered as an integrated whole. Geographically, coastal ecosystem is defined as the landmark areas of all coastal watersheds, the tail-end portions of river drainage basins and the seaward areas up to the outer limit of land-based activities. It has also been described as one comprising estuaries and coastal waters and lands located where flowing surface water systems meet the sea, and tides mix freshwater of rivers with saline seawater. It, therefore, includes coastlines and the adjacent lands along with saline, brackish and freshwater areas. The coast is, basically, the interface between land and sea. Beaches and inter-tidal areas are the spheres where transition from land to sea and vice versa takes place. The first life forms evolved from the sea and migrated to land through these interface areas.

All these land and water forms interact as integrated ecological units. Shore lands, sand dunes, offshore and barrier islands, mud banks, headlands, coastal wetlands (also referred to as lagoons, salt marshes or tidelands) and freshwater wetlands within estuarine drainage areas are included in the coastal ecosystem. These inter-related ecological features are crucial to coastal fish and wildlife and their habitat. A fragile structured ecosystem, the coastline has to maintain its equilibrium in the face of a very powerful force like the sea.

INDIA'S SHORELINE
From Gujarat in the west, down along the Konkan and Malabar coasts, skirting around Kanniyakumari and then up along the Coromandal coast to West Bengal's Sundarbans, India's shoreline extends over 5,680 kilometres. The West Coast, starting from Pakistan border in Gujarat to up to the cape of Kanniyakumari, is 3,446 kilometres long and is spread along the states of Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Lakshdweep Islands are also included in it. Broadly, the West Coast is divided into two regions; Southwest part covering Kerala, Karnataka and Goa and the Northwest embracing Maharashtra and Gujarat.

KARNATAKA COAST
Karnataka's coast stretches for 300 kilometres along the three districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udipi and Uttara Kannada. Of these, Uttara Kannada has 160-kilometre long coastline while 98 kilometres are in Udipi district and the rest in Dakshina Kannada. It lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats, which is one of the 25 recognised 'biodiversity hot spots' in the world, and comprises estuaries, beaches, monsoon wetlands, agricultural and forestlands, and mountains up to a height of 2,000 metres. It's three distinct agro-climatic zones range from coastal flatlands in the west with undulating hills and valleys in the middle and high hill ranges in the east that separates it from the peninsula. 22 rivers flowing down from the Western Ghats traverse the coastal stretch. These rivers, while joining the sea, form estuaries that are very productive and have extensive mangrove vegetation providing valuable habitat for a wide range of breeding fish and protecting the coast from storm damage and erosion.

Karnataka's coastal ecosystem is rich in natural resources and provides enormous direct and indirect benefits to the people. These include a wide range of fish and plant products of domestic and commercial value, freshwater for urban and rural population, and facilities for recreation and tourism. The natural resources of both the sea and the coast, taken together, generate millions of rupees worth of economic output.

The coast has a 27,000 square-kilometre of continental shelf. The State's share of "Exclusive Economic Zone" comprises 87,000 square kilometres of coastal waters and open sea with more than 300 varieties of marine fish faunas. Its resource potential is estimated at annual fish harvest of 4.25 million tons. There are 29 fish-landing centres including five minor fishing harbours along the Karnataka coast. Of these, three are located in Dakshina Kannada, ten in Udipi and 16 in Uttara Kannada districts. The annual marine fish yield along the coastal Karnataka is 1,51,000 tons.