Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconsider the proposal for offshore mining activities in Gulf of Mannar. “I urge that to delete all the notified biodiversity rich areas from the Open Acreage Licensing Policy(OALP) for deep sea mining. Considering that the future of all these fragile protected eco-systems is at stake, I seek your personal intervention in this critical issue,” Chief Minister Stalin said in a letter to Prime Minister Modi.
The Directorate of Hydrocarbon, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has launched OALP-BID Round-X for auctioning petroleum and natural gas blocks on February 11. The notification includes 9,990.96 sq KM under the block name CY-DWHP-2024/1 in the Cauvery Basin, which falls within the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve and is near the Palk Bay and Wadge Bank.
Rich buidiversity
The Biosphere Reserve, which encompasses the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park was declared on February 18, 1989 by the Government of India and has a rich biodiversity encompassing varied ecosystems like coral reefs, sea-grass beds, mangroves, estuaries, mudflats, islands and forests.
It consists of a chain of 21 islands and adjoining coral reefs, spread over 560 sq KM off the coasts of Ramanathapuram and Thoothukudi Districts, supports a wide variety of marine fauna. In addition, the Tamil Nadu government has notified India’s first conservation reserve for the highly endangered Dugong (sea cow) in the Palk Bay in September 2021, covering 448 sq KM of coastal waters of Thanjavur and Pudukkottai districts.
Given the fragile eco-system of these areas and their rich biodiversity, deep sea mining for petroleum and natural gas may cause irreversible damage to marine habitats and degrade the overall health of the ocean. The risks of sediment plumes, toxic waste discharges and habitat destruction cannot be overstated and it will also affect the livelihood of the lakhs of fishermen who depend on the Gulf of Mannar for their sustenance. Any such disruptions caused by mining activities will also make the entire coastal area vulnerable and this has created immense anxiety among the coastal communities.
“Unfortunately, the State government was not consulted by the Union government before notifying this block for auction. If due consultation had been done, we would have explained in detail all the issues highlighted above,” the letter says.