Introduction

The Bay of Bengal is a Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) located in the tropics. Nearly 25% of the world's population resides in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand that border the Bay of Bengal. Alternating southwest and northeast monsoons, storm surges, cyclones and seasonal upwelling of bottom waters affect the hydrographical regimes in the Bay. The rivers discharge annually 1.6 x 10¹² m³ fresh water and 1.35 x 10⁹ tonnes of sediment into the bay (Subramanian, 1993) and change the hydrographical conditions from the oceanic to brackish water. The Bay is moderately productive, with 150-300 g C m² y^-1 (Aziz Ahmad, 1998).

The habitats in the Bay of Bengal include mudflats, rocky and sandy beaches, shoals, coral reefs, mangroves, marsh vegetation, lagoons, costal lakes, flood prone areas, coastal dunes, reclaimed areas, and salt pans. The Bay of Bengal has a rich diversity of species and ecosystems, which together make up the structure and functioning of the various marine habitats. Some coastal areas serve as nursery grounds for commercially important prawns. The Bay of Bengal has the northern most tuna fishing grounds. The Gulf of Mannar is one of the "biodiversity hotspots", with high numbers of species for many different types of marine organisms.

Increasing anthropogenic activities are damaging the natural ecosystems of the Bay. Plans are in progress for implementation of mega marine engineering projects such as the Sethu Samudram Canal Project (Subba Rao, 2008) in the Bay of Bengal, and others associated with construction of new ports. Agricultural activity is polluting the Bay with pesticides. Oil spills due to heavy oil tanker traffic threaten the diversity of biota, and affect the populations of species. Shipping activity has introduced exotic species into the Bay of Bengal (Subba Rao, 2005). Overfishing in the Bay is depleting species populations and poses a major threat to the livelihood of millions of fisherman in this region. An inventory of the species in all marine habitats is therefor essential for conservation, management and balanced and sustainable development of the ecosystem.

by E.C. La Fond
Reprinted from the "Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences," Vol. XLVI, 1957, with permission.

"The Indian Ocean remains one of the unexplored frontiers of our earth. It encompasses nearly 5,000 miles of coast-line and stretches hundreds of miles to the south, east, and west. It has an area 23 times as great as that of India itself and is the only major ocean named after a country. It is only fitting, therefore, that the study of this vast body of water has been taken up as a major subject here in India. The Andhra University, a pioneer in many fields, has introduced the scientific study of the north-eastern part of the Indian Ocean - the Bay of Bengal into its curriculum, and some of the progress in this field is here reported. ..."
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by D.V. Subba Rao
Reprinted from "Seas at the Millenium: An Environmental Evaluation," Edited by Charles R.C. Shepard, Pergamon, 2000, with permission.

"The Bay of Bengal has several remarkable features. It has a huge influx of fresh water from several major rivers, it is affected by intense northeast and southwest monsoon winds, of which the latter breed cyclones. In the bay there is a seasonal anticyclonic coastal current which is seasonally replaced by a cyclonic current, and unlike most coastal regions, there is a western boundary coastal upwelling.

The Bay supports various tropical biotopes such as brackish lakes, estuaries, mangroves, coral reefs, and offshore waters with a great diversity of marine fauna and flora. The steadily growing coastal population (~55 million) utilizes the coastal zone for several purposes. Increasing development pressure from urban settlements, industry, fishery, mariculture, ports and harbours has resulted in the alteration of coastline, loss of critical habitats, and pollution of the environment, giving rise to serious environmental and socio-economic problems. Massive education of the public about the environment, impending disasters, mitigation measures, and the need for conservation of resources and sustainable development are all crucial to our understanding or use of this unique sea. There is a need for the creation of a coastal zone management authority empowered to implement environmental regulations, and a need to establish regional scientific programmes. .."
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