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First fauna survey begins in Krishna sanctuary
Context:
The first status survey of the ‘fauna’ in the Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary (KWL), one of the rarest eco-regions in the world, has been commenced.
About Sanctuary:
- The area was declared as wildlife sanctuary in 1998.
- Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary and estuary located in Andhra Pradesh.
- The sanctuary is sandwiched between the Bay of Bengal and the Krishna river and geographically falls in Krishna and Guntur district in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
- It is one of the rarest eco-regions of the world because it harbors vast tracts of pristine mangrove forests.
- It is believed by conservationists to be one of the last remaining tracts of thick primary mangrove forests of South India, which is rapidly disappearing due to absence of protective measures.
- It includes Sorlagondi Reserve Forest, Nachugunta Reserve Forest, Yelichetladibba Reserve Forest, Kottapalem Reserve Forest, Molagunta Reserve Forest, Adavuladivi Reserve Forest and Lankivanidibba Reserve Forest.
- A part of the mangroves is located far from the main mangrove area.
- This unconnected region lies near Machilipatnam on its eastern side and Nakshatranagar on its western side.
Flora and fauna:
- The estuary of Krishna River passes through the sanctuary, and the mangroves line the estuary.
- It is believed that this region potentially holds one of the most significant populations of fishing cats in the world, and yet , no concrete survey on fishing cats or community-based fishing cat conservation efforts have been carried out here.
- The area has the potential to become world’s first reserve for a few of the IUCN identified endangered species including the fishing cat or locally as bavuru pilli.
- The sanctuary is home to reptiles including the gargen lizard, wall lizard and tortoise.
Need for the survey:
- It is the need of the hour to have an authentic data on the presence of the wildlife to prepare conservation strategies.
- The survey was carried out by installing camera traps in the most strategic 20 wildlife grids.
- It will proceed with the ‘Fishing Cat census’ once the data captured through the camera traps is examined.
- The survey includes geo-tagging of the wildlife, particularly the fishing cat.
- The credit for the rise of the fishing cat pollution goes to the conservation of the mangrove cover.
- The India State of Forest Report 2015 shows that there has been a net increase of 17 sq.km. of mangroves forest cover in Krishna district since 2013.