India has a coastline of about 7500 km with about 25 percentage of its population living coastal areas. Many major cities are located along the coast, including Kolkata, Chennai Mumbai. In all, there are 11 major, 16 intermediate and 78 minor ports in India.
India is one of wettest countries in the world, with an annual rainfall of 1000 km3. There are 14 major, medium and 162 small rivers in India, with a mean annual runoff of 1645 km3, although not these rivers discharge into the sea. About 500 million tons of sediment are discharged into seas each year from India.
A unique feature of the Indian Ocean is the monsoons. In the Arabian Sea, the SW monsoon results in intense upwelling along the west coast of India and this account for the high productivity and fisheries potential in this area. The Arabian Sea and the Bay Bengal are subject to large semi-diurnal tides with amplitudes of 1-8 m and are also influenced the biannual reversal of the monsoon winds.
These two factors result in the flushing of Indi coastal areas which helps in dispersing pollutants. The study of coastal ocean monitoring a prediction system by the Department of Ocean Development is useful to monitor coastal marine pollution. This study shows that the open oceans around India are pollution free. Nevertheless, coastal pollution is an increasing problem in India.
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Effect of Marine Pollution
Thousands of tons of chemicals, pesticides like phosphorus, nitrogen, mercury, lead, chromium, zinc, detergents, phenol, mineral oils etc enter the sea. These are the contributing factors for the Eutrophication of coastal water.
There are reports of noxious algal bloom and fish kill.
Plants, animals, many birds and marine organisms are affected by oil. Cleaning of tankers at seas, offshore drilling operations and accidents to tankers produce oil pollution.