“Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System (COMAPS)”

The Integrated Coastal Marine Area Management centre of Earth System Science Organisation (ESSO-ICMAM) has been implementing a program called “Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System (COMAPS)” with the objectives (i) to monitor water quality parameters periodically in selected locations in the coastal waters of India (ii) to develop possible prediction of sea water quality in these selected locations to assess the state of marine environment. Under the COMAPS program, the data up to 25 parameters such as dissolved oxygen (DO), nutrients, pH, Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), plankton, benthos and pathogenic bacteria, etc., are being monitored covering different seasons at 20 coastal locations   viz., Vadinar, Veraval, Hazira, Thane (Mumbai), Worli, Ratnagiri, Malvan, Mandovi, Mangalore, Kochi, Kavaratti, Sandheads, Hooghly, Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Kakinada Ennore (Chennai), Pondicherry, Tuticorin, Port Blair.              Seawater quality data collected over period has indicated areas of low, moderate and high.  The data further indicates that the concentration of the nutrients and population of pathogenic bacteria are confined to 0 – 1 km at these locations except in Mumbai.   A large amount of data is generated under the program. The data are also hosted on the website of ESSO-Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad for wider utility. The details of meta-data and salient findings are placed at Annexure-1.          These details of the findings are being provided to the State Pollution Control Boards, who make use of the information to take remedial measures, if any.           The program has been under successfully implementation successfully over a decade, with the participation of reputed national institutions.             The data collected under COMAPS programme over the years have been compiled and organized into a database. Databases for Sandheads, Hooghly estuary, Saptamukhi, Subarnarekha, Digha, Haldia Port, Diamond harbor, Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Islands were completed. GIS based database on marine pollution was completed for Kochi, Vishakhapatnam, Koodankulam and Veraval. These data are provided to the State Pollution Control Boards, who make use of the information to take remedial measures