ENNORE CREEK – GEOGRAPHY
News: Coming
soon, a ‘Cafeteria’ for oil spill-hit birds at Ennore Creek
What's in the news?
● While
casting a net to trap birds is not something wildlife enthusiasts will ever
recommend, in Ennore Creek, it has been recommended purely as an act of
conservation.
Key takeaways:
● Experts
from the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the Besant Memorial Animal
Dispensary (BMAD) are planning to establish feeding stations for birds at the
creek, where contamination due to an oil spill from industries in Manali has
brought down the bird population drastically.
Ennore Creek:
● It
is a backwater located in
Thiruvallur District, Tamil Nadu.
● It
is an arm of the Kosasthalaiyar River.
● The
Creek meets the Bay of Bengal at
Mugathwara Kuppam, while the northern channel of the creek connects to the Pulicat Lake, the second largest brackish water lake in
the country.
● For
decades, this creek sustained the livelihoods of the residents in the
surrounding villages and has been demarcated as CRZ IV (Water Body) in the coastal zone management plan by the
Tamil Nadu State Coastal Zone Management Authority.
Significance:
● The
Ennore Creek, along with the Buckingham Canal and the rest of the Pulicat water
system has vast importance for the local fisher folk.
● It
nurtures a healthy aquatic ecosystem
which was once famous for its rich biodiversity.
● This
ecologically sensitive ecosystem was home to large swamps of mangroves that not
only ensured a sustainable regeneration of fish resources, but also helped
mitigate flooding in times of strong rainfall, high tides and cyclones.