KARACHI, June 8: A senior teacher at the University of Karachi and an expert in marine habitat has said that a discharge of at least 10 MAF (million acre feet) water to the Indus delta is necessary to preserve biodiversity, natural resources and the mangrove ecosystem.

Speaking at a series of lectures planned to mark the golden jubilee celebrations of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences, Dr S. M. Saifullah, professor at the Department of Botany, said on Saturday that rehabilitation and cultivation of mangroves should be carried out extensively in the barren and denuded areas of the Indus delta.

Mangroves are tree and shrubs found in the intertidal belt of tropical and sub-tropical belt. In Pakistan they are seen along the coastline of Sindh (97 per cent) and Balochistan (3 per cent), covering an area of about 628,350 acres, which, among other benefits, also proved an ideal sanctuary for the production and nurturing of shrimp fishery.

Prof Saifullah said that since mangrove cover in Balochistan was extremely poor, special attention should be taken to preserve and maintain the mangroves in Miani Hor, Kalmat Khor and Gawatar Bay. These strips should be declared protected areas, he pointed out.

He said that mangrove ecosystems were of great ecological and economic significance and were exploited directly or indirectly. The mangrove forests moderate the climate of Sindh and protect its shore from erosion, he added.

He said that the continuous decrease in fresh water supply to the Indus delta was causing a serious retardation in the growth of the mangroves in the area due to an increase in salinity and less flow of alluvia substrate. Some decades back the delta used to get 15 MAF of fresh Indus water, he noted, and called for an immediate supply of water to the delta which yielded about 25,911 tones of shrimp per year — 97 per cent of the total shrimp yield.

He recommended that a research centre should be established in the country to cater to the needs of researchers on the subject.

He said that decreased flow of Indus River, grazing and harvesting, deforestation and dredging, discharge of pollutants, rise in sea level, lake of awareness among the people etc., were some of the reasons behind the deterioration and destruction of mangroves.

KU vice-chancellor Dr Zafar Saieed Saify also spoke.