Presented by Dr.Ramasubramanian at MSSRF 30 conference

1. Climate Change and Coastal Zone Management: MSSRF Experience
07.08.2019
Achieving Sustainable Development Goals and Strengthening
Science for Climate Resilience A Multi Stakeholder Consultation

2. Sea level rise predictions By IPCC in 2100
Global
• 52-98 cm sea level rise
Indian Coast
• Sea level rise: 16 cm by 2050; 32 cm by 2100
• Avg. sea level rise is about 1.7 mm/ year

3. Climate change impacts on the coastal community
• The coastal areas along the Bay of Bengal are highly vulnerable
to climate related impacts.
• The impact on livelihoods of poor fishing communities will be
high
• Inundation of low lying coastal lands
• Increased coastal erosion and seawater intrusion into
freshwater and groundwater
• Increase the intensity of extreme weather conditions such as
cyclones and high waves
• Coastal community unable to predict the situation and it
seriously affects their safety and livelihoods

4. MSSRF initiatives to address the issues of climate change
• Restoration of degraded mangroves
• Biosaline Agriculture
• Diversification of Livelihoods
• Disaster Risk Reduction
• Assessment of Green House Gas Flux in Mangrove Ecosystem

5. Restoration of Degraded Mangroves- Bioshields
Degradation: Both anthropogenic and man made
• Joint Mangrove Management (JMM) -a science based, community-centred and process-
oriented approach to conserve, restore and sustain mangrove wetlands.
• Extended to Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra. More than 2,500 ha of degraded
mangroves restored
• 20 year old mangrove plantation sequester 1.83 tC ha−1 y−1
• The Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change, Government of India, evaluated
mangrove restoration technology and recommended that canal method is suitable to restore
degraded mangrove areas.
• The restored mangroves in Pichavaram saved lives and livelihoods during the 2004 tsunami
and the was published in Science.

6. Before restoration
After restoration
Restoration of Degraded Mangroves through canal method

7. 1990
2018
Krishna Mangroves

8. Pichavaram Mangroves

9. Biosaline Agriculture – Halophytes
More than 1.2 millon ha saline land in the coastal areas
Potential crops – Saline tolerant crops – Traditional and improved varieties
Halophytes
Halophytes are saline tolerant plants which grows luxuriantly in saline soils. There are potential species for
food, fodder and fuel
More than 2000 species were recorded globally
In India community uses species like Suaeda sp. and Sesuvium sp. as green leaf vegetable

10. Halophytes Genetic Garden
29 halophytes collected from the East
coast

11. Cultivating halophytes Suaeda maritima, Salicornia brachiata
Lab studies
• Varying salinities were used (1–40 g L −1); Maximum
growth was observed in the salinities 8 and 10 PPT.
• These species show high levels of salinity tolerance
and show the potential for its domestication and its
use as food (leafy vegetable)
Suaeda maritima
Salicornia brachiata
Total fresh biomass(g) per plant in different salinity
levels at 90 Days
EC (dS/m) Suaeda maritima Salicornia brachiata
1 48.47 22.27
6 55.07 32.33
11 62.77 37.70
16 70.67 36.47

12. Biosaline Farming of halophytes
Suaeda maritima, Sesuvium portulacastrum and Salicornia brachiata were grown in saline soil.
About 20 tonnes of biomass (fresh weight) has been harvested which is more or less equal to
the biomass produced using fresh water. These plants were grown in saline affected land with
saline water.

13. Halophyte Grass
Halophytic fodder grass viz. Porteresia coarctata, Fimbristylis ferruguinea and Paspalum
vaginatum cultivated in saline soil. After 180 days, P. coarctata yielded a biomass of 10
tons/ ha, followed by F. ferruguinea (4.9) tonnes and P. vaginatum (2.5 tonnes).
Porteresia coarctata Paspalum vaginatum

14. On Farm Demonstration of Kagga Paddy cultivation in the Manikatta Ghazani during kharif
2017
Treatment Plant Ht (cm) Tiller/plant Panicles/plant Panicle length
(cm)
Grain yield
(kg/ha)
Broadcasting 161.8 7.96 6.72 29.30 560
Transplanting 161.9 8.97 7.21 28.05 784
Drum seeding 161.8 8.21 6.72 27.48 476

15. Beli Kagga Kari Kagga
Seed purification of Beli and Kari Kagga at ARS Kumta

16. Integrated Mangrove Fishery Farming System
Blue solutions considered IMFFS as one of the adaptation strategies for SLR
The Mangroves acts as a barrier and the water spread area helps the farmers to
rear fish. Tidal fed ponds;
About 50 ha of IMFFS farms established and other 25 ha is being done

17. • Produce fish integrated agriculture crops around fish pond.
• Farming sub-systems fish, crop, livestock are linked to each
other.
• The byproducts/wastes from one sub-system become
valuable inputs to another sub-system
• Increase the Productivity; income
• Household food security
Promoted 154 farms in 21 villages
Integrated Fish Farming System

18. Lobsters Groupers Small Fishes
• Biodiversity and bioresources enhancement technique
• Acts as a barrier to reduce the height and speed of the waves
• Protecting the eroding coast and coastal settlements
Reef modules
Community Based Artificial Reef for Marine Bio Resource Enhancement

19. • Within the short period of time enormous settlement
of sedentary flora and fauna was recorded
• Assemblage of different varieties of fishes was
recorded in the artificial reef system
• There is an overwhelming support from the traditional
fisher folk
Tuticorin : 2004
Karaikal :2018
Artificial Reef : Deployment Pattern

20. Wave Rider Buoys : Real Time Waves Monitoring System – Partnership with
INCOIS
• Measures wave height, wave direction and
seawater temperature
• 16 WRBs across Indian Ocean
• 3 buoys in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry
monitored by MSSRF – Puducherry, Cholachel
and Tuticorin

21. Features in Fisher friend :
Disaster alerts
Sea water temperature, Sea current
Wave Height and Wind patterns
Potential fishing zone
Mark danger zones in the Sea
Market Prices
International Border Line (IBL)
SOS (Save our Soul)
Navigation to Harbour locations
Government schemes
Daily News
My Tracker
Compass
Media archives: fisheries contents
Calling facility
Key contacts for communication
Fisher Friend Mobile App : Sustainable and Climate Smart fishing

22. Greenhouse Gas Flux in Pichavaram
The Net Ecosystem Productivity (NEP) of the Pichavaram mangrove shows that it acts as a
sink for CO2.

23. Anticipatory Research
• Genetic purification of saline tolerant traditional varieties for yield enhancement
• Screening traditional landraces for salinity tolerance traits
• Molecular approaches for enhancing salinity tolerance
• Microbes as Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) in stressed soils

24. • A collection of 47 saline tolerant rice landraces (including 3 sensitive/tolerant checks)
• From geographically divergent coastal regions of India (also from NBPGR, RRS-Chinsurah, IRRI and farmer’s fields)
• Multiplied in our experimental fields in IGCAR, Kalpakkam over two seasons
Nona Bokra -1 Nona Bokra -2 Nona Bokra -3 Nona Bokra -4 Altaluti Hoogla Katrangi Darsal Rupsal
Kaksal Marisal Dudhersor Gheus Jingasal Nonasoren Kalonunia Patnai 23 Mundon-1
Mundon-2 Kamini Hamilton Anakodan Orkyma Orumundakan 1 Orumundakan 2 Chettivirippu PallipuramPokkali
Korgut Kalamocha Matla -2Matla -1 Dudheshwar Aduisen-1 Aduisen-2 Talmugur-1 Talmugur-2
Talmugur-3 Pokkali -1 Pokkali-2 Pokkali-3 Pokkali-4 FL478 IR28 IR29
Screening traditional landraces for salinity tolerance traits

25. S.No Landraces 10th day scoring 16th day scoring Tolerance
1 FL478 3 3 Tolerant
2 IR 28 7 9 Highly susceptible
3 IR 29 7 9 Highly susceptible
4 Nona Bokra 1 3 3 Tolerant
5 Nona Bokra 3 3 3 Tolerant
6 Aduisen 1 3 3 Tolerant
7 Aduisen 2 3 3 Tolerant
8 Orumundakon 1 3 3 Tolerant
9 Orumundakon 2 5 5 Moderately tolerant
10 Anakodan 5 7 Susceptible
11 Mundon 1 3 3 Tolerant
12 Mundon 2 3 3 Tolerant
13 Talmugur 1 3 3 Tolerant
14 Talmugur 2 3 5 Moderately tolerant
15 Talmugur 3 3 3 Tolerant
16 Nonasoren 3 3 Tolerant
17 Pokkali 1 3 3 Tolerant
18 Kalamocha 5 5 Moderately tolerant
19 Pallipuram Pokkali 3 3 Tolerant
20 Chettivirippu 5 5 Moderately tolerant
Standard Evaluation Score (SES) of visual salt injury at seedling stage

26. Molecular approaches for enhancing salinity tolerance
• Understanding molecular mechanisms of drought and salt stress response – Bioinformatics and molecular
approaches
• Validation of identified saline tolerant genes in rice
• Functional characterization of stress responsive genes in saline tolerant wild relative of rice plant

27. Saline tolerant PGPR (Pseudomonas sp. MSSRFD41)
• Novel species in the group of Pseudomonas sp.
• Potential biocontrol and PGPR agent
• Tolerant to1M NaCl
• AHL positive (Quorum sensing)
• Produce ACC deaminase
Plant growth promoting traits of Pseudomonas sp. MSSRFD41
PGPR as
biocontrol agent

28. Future Focus
• Biosaline Agriculture (Halophytes)
• Sustainable Aquaculture

29. Thanks