Basic HTML Version
International Journal of Marine Science 2013, Vol.3, No.23, 178-186
http://ijms.sophiapublisher.com
178
A Review Open Access
Coastal Lagoon: Present Status and Future Challenges
Debasish Mahapatro
1
, R.C. Panigrahy
2
, S. Panda
3
1. Chilika Development Authority, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
2. Department of Marine Science, Berhampur Univeristy, Berhampr, Ganjam Odisha, India
3. Nandankanan Zoological Park, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
Corresponding author email: dsmahapatro@gmail.com
International Journal of Marine Science, 2013, Vol.3, No.23 doi: 10.5376/ijms.2013.03.0023
Received: 15 Mar., 2013
Accepted: 15 Apr., 2013
Published: 30 Apr., 2013
Copyright
©
2013 Mahapatro, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Mahapatro et al., 2013, Coastal Lagoon: Present Status and Future Challenges, International Journal of Marine Science, Vol.3, No.23 178
-
186 (doi:
10.5376/ijms.2013.03.0023)
Abstract
In this review paper the present status of coastal lagoon and future challenges which will be faced by the coastal lagoon is
discussed. Coastal lagoon provides great livelihood for a larger portion of human population through fisheries and tourism point of
view thus crucial in socio economic aspect. Due to natural and anthropogenic activity, stress on coastal lagoon is increasing day by
day. Thus steps should be taken for regular monitoring and planning for better management is found to be imperative in regards to
present day situation.
Keywords
Coastal lagoon; India; Chilika Lake; Ecosystems; Future challenges
1 Introduction
Coastal lagoon is the dynamic and an ecosystem rich
in biodiversity, also supports for exploitable fisheries
which helped for a large scale of human population.
Geographically the coastal lagoon is starched from
arctic to the tropics (Nichols and Boon, 1994),
covering 13% of the coastal region of the world may
be ranged from<0.01 km² to>10 000 km² (Bird, 1994;
Kjerfve, 1994). Regarding definition Emery and
Stevenson (1957) had given the first scientific
definition ever on coastal lagoon which states that
“coastal lagoons are the bodies of water, separated in
most cases from the ocean by offshore bars or islands
of marine origin and are usually parallel to coast line”.
But considering the overall salient features of lagoons,
Pritchard (1967) opined that lagoons can be treated as
a form of estuaries. Hence the definition of a lagoon
can be same as that of an estuary i.e. “
semi enclosed
coastal bodies of water which has free connection
with the open sea and within which the sea water is
measurably diluted with the fresh water derived from
land drainage
”. This definition however does not
include lagoons which are periodically or permanently
cut off from the sea. Based on considering the
research findings of numerous investigators, Phelger
(1969) defined coastal lagoons as “shallow inland
marine waters usually oriented parallel to the coast,
separated from the oceans by one or more number of
restricted inlets”. Later Lankford (1978) on the other
hand had, defined the coastal lagoon as “
A coastal
zone depression below mean high water, having
permanent or ephemerae communication(s) with the
sea, but protected from the sea by some type of
barrier”
. Day (1980), however has shared the views
with Pritchard (1967) that coastal lagoons are also a
type of estuary and defined coastal lagoons as “
A
partially enclosed coastal body of water, which has
either permanently or periodically opened into the sea
and within which there is measurable variability of
salinity due to admixture of seawater and freshwater
derived from inland drainage
”. This definition, indeed,
includes a variety of coastal water bodies viz.
estuaries, coastal lagoons, saline lakes, small inlets of
the seas etc., even though they possess different
geomorphologic attributes. The latest definition of a
coastal lagoon, that appeared in the American
Geological Institute (AGI) Glossary of Geology
(Bates and Jackson, 1987), is “
A shallow stretch of sea
water, such as sound channel Bay or a salt water lake
near or communicating with the sea and partly or
completely separated from it by a low, narrow or
elongate strip of land such as a reef, barrier island,
sand bank or spilt
”. Kjerfve (1994) however, had
given the most up dated definition of a coastal lagoon