Mr. Jim Enright has visited OMCAR - mangrove restoration sites in Palk Bay, southeast coast of India. It is a part of our community awareness on mangroves in northern Palk Bay.
We have organized a mangrove educational field trip to facilitate an interaction between Mr. Jim Enright and local college students.
We all have travelled in a rainy monsoon day of 4th November 2009 to Muthupet mangroves. A large flux of fresh water was flowing in to the Muthupet Lagoon. More than expected, we had about 13 students.
Some curious students had taken my GPS to learn the navigation techniques. We stopped in every changing transition area between the zones of mangrove species (based on salinity tolerance). I explained the adaptive characters, structure of flowers and leaves.
Lush green E.agallocha were decorated male and female flowers and A.corniculatum have already produced their curved propagules like a green chillies hanging on the bushes. I could feel that the mangroves need this rainy days to cherish their seeds as well as associated flora and fauna. After reaching the Chief's corner tourist hut, Mr. Jim Enright, has presented a lecture on mangrove services and threats caused by man-made activities. Mr. Enright said "Mangroves play a vital role that provides food, medicines, shelter and protection from natural disasters. So, protection of existing mangroves is important, as the restoration is expensive and time consuming process". I translated his speech for the participants, when the raining sky stopped to favour our board walk.
Fishers returning from Lagoon
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