The Visakhapatnam port has drawn up plans to regenerate mangroves on 50 acres within the port area and restore ecological balance, according to VPT Chairman MT Krishna Babu.

Inaugurating a national seminar on the management of mangrove forests here on Wednesday, Babu said the port had been seeking technical assistance for the project and had asked the Centre for Mangroves and Coastal Ecology of the Institute of Forest Biodiversity to be a partner in the project.

Demonstration plot Babu said the port would fund the project and it would help create a demonstration plot of mangrove forests. He admitted that the port development too had taken its toll on mangrove forests.

He lauded the efforts of the Collector of Kannur district in Kerala P Bala Kiran for notifying mangrove forests in that district as reserve forest.

Promising support to the Forest Department in taking up regeneration of mangrove forests, district Collector N Yuvaraj asked the foresters to take the initiative in replicating the Kannur district model in the State.

New institute The district administration has identified 100 acres at Erra Konda for establishing an Institute of Mangroves and Coastal Ecology, by upscaling the Centre for Mangroves and Coastal Ecology of the Institute of Forest Biodiversity. The foundation stone would be laid for the institute in a month.

Additional PCCF of the Institute of Forest Biodiversity D Jayaprasad, IFB Director GRS Reddy, Director Institute of Wood Science and Technology Surendra Kumar, a number of forest officials and academics from across the country are attending the two-day seminar.

sarma.rs@thehindu.co.in

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