A geo-spatial study on spatio-temporal growth of brackish water aquaculture along the coastal areas of West Bengal (India)

Abstract

The present study seeks to identify the landuse changes occurring due to haphazard growth of brackish water fisheries along the coastal areas of West Bengal through remote sensing and GIS techniques. High resolution multi-temporal Google Earth images were used for detecting spatio-temporal changes of two blocks of Contai sub-division located in Midnapore district of West Bengal. Also, the area was surveyed with GPS and the digitized maps were verified using the information collected from the aquaculture farm owners. It is evident from change detection analysis that a significant amount of area under agricultural land has been converted into aquaculture farm and also a large number of pre-existing ponds have been converted into brackish water fisheries. Remote sensing derived statistical information on inland fisheries of Contai II and III blocks reveals that area under brackish water fisheries has increased about 2950 acres within the period 2006 to 2011.