First fauna survey begins in Krishna sanctuary

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.