Discussion and Analysis

The present live coral cover of 53.6% reported at Kadmat shows that the corals are healthy and has a rapid growth when compared to the report of Rajasuriya, et al. (1999a) that live coral cover at Kadmat exceed 80-90% before April 1998 and was reduced to >5% but there is no correlation between diversity and coral reef health as explained by Kulkarni and Saxena, (2000).

Comparison with the earlier studies on bleaching events at Lakshadweep (Wafar, 1999, Rajasuriya, et al. 1999a, Arthur, 1999, Pet-Soede et al., 2000 and Pillai and Venkataraman, 2000) showed the recovery and ‘good’ condition of coral reefs since they have the ability to grow rapidly and re-colonise large areas of destroyed reef in a relatively short period.

Hard corals of 105 species among 37 genera and 603 species of fish have been recorded including both reef dwelling and oceanic species (Pillai and Jasmine, 1989). Over 600 species of marine fishes were reported from Lakshadweep (Heere, 1941; Jones, 1980; Tikader et al, 1986; Venkateswarlu, 1984). Marine ornamental fishes are discussed by Emmanuel et al (1996).

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• Project Abstract
• Oil Spillage
• Pollution
• Coral bleaching
• Highlights of the findings achieved in the project
• Detailed report of work done on the project
• Description of the study areas
• Recommendation including remedial measures
• Impacts of the work on the scientific potential of our country