Impact of Aquaculture industries on geomorphology around Buckingham canal, Kancheepuram District, Tamil Nadu, India using Remote sensing and GIS Techniques

Abstract

Aquaculture has been fast growing industry because of significant increase in the demand for fish and seafood throughout the world. However, the concerns were raised about the possible impacts of these aquaculture industries on the ambient aquatic ecosystem and degradation of the land environment. Rapid scale growth of intensive aquaculture systems can often lead to adverse impacts on the geomorphology of the land environment and nearby water resources. The present study was aimed to evaluate the impacts of aquaculture industry development along Buckingham canal between Sadras creek in the South and Muttukadu backwater in the North where it joins the Bay of Bengal near Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India. Remote sensing and GIS techniques were used to study the adverse impacts on the geomorphology of land environment and nearby water resources of the present study area. The Land use and Land cover (LULC) data indicated that about 1004.4 ha (hectare) of backwater area, 1503.81 ha of vegetation (shrubs, mud flats and mangrove) and 50.85 ha of agriculture land were largely converted in to Aquaculture ponds in last nearly three decades i.e. from 1990 to 2017 in the present study area.