Marine protected areas

Story hook

In 1980, divers near the Wandur coast in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands stumbled on a sight that hadn't been documented in detail before — a fringing reef stretching across 15 islands, hosting organ-pipe corals, brain corals, and sea anemones in colours that no Indian biology textbook had ever shown. By 1983, the islands were notified as the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park — India's first marine national park established in a true offshore archipelago.

A few months earlier, in February 1980, Gujarat had quietly notified the Marine National Park of the Gulf of Kachchh — India's first official marine national park, covering 42 islands in a 458 km² stretch on the Saurashtra coast. And in 1986, Tamil Nadu added the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park — 21 islands along the Palk Strait, home to 117 species of hard corals, dugongs, and the only sea cow population on the Indian mainland.

India's coastline runs 7,517 km, with an EEZ of 2.3 million km² — larger than its land area. Yet only 4 dedicated marine national parks and ~25 marine protected areas in total — together protecting less than 1 % of India's marine waters. This file walks through the four flagships and the policy questions about why we have so few.

Why this matters for UPSC

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) yield 1 Prelims MCQ most years — match-pairs on location, year of notification, key species. Mains questions cover coastal ecosystems, MPA effectiveness, and India's Blue Economy. Interview boards probe global commitments (30x30 target under the GBF) and fishing community livelihoods.