Oceanic Resources of India and Their Potential

What the official syllabus says

UPPCS Main Examination, General Studies I.

Oceanic resources of India and their potential.

Topics in detail

Know what resources lie in India's seas, how much is used today, and what stands in the way of their potential.

India's maritime zones

• A long coastline on the mainland and the island groups of Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep
• The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982): territorial sea (12 nautical miles), contiguous zone (24 nautical miles), exclusive economic zone (200 nautical miles), continental shelf
• India's large exclusive economic zone and the resources within it

Living resources

• Marine fisheries: pelagic and demersal fish, the main fishing states and harbours
• Deep-sea fishing, mariculture and seaweed farming
• Coral reefs (Gulf of Mannar, Gulf of Kachchh, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar) and mangroves
• Marine biodiversity and bioprospecting

Mineral and energy resources

• Offshore oil and gas: Mumbai High, the Krishna-Godavari basin
• Beach placer minerals: ilmenite, rutile, zircon, monazite (Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha coasts)
• Polymetallic nodules in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (India's pioneer investor area with the International Seabed Authority) and polymetallic sulphides
• Salt from sea water (Gujarat, Tamil Nadu)
• Renewable energy: offshore wind, tidal energy (Gulf of Khambhat, Gulf of Kachchh, Sundarbans), wave energy, ocean thermal energy conversion

Programmes and institutions

• Deep Ocean Mission (2021) and the Samudrayaan crewed submersible project
• Sagarmala programme for ports and coastal development
• Blue economy policy; Blue Revolution in fisheries
• Institutions: National Institute of Ocean Technology, INCOIS, National Institute of Oceanography

Ports, shipping and security

• Major and non-major ports; coastal shipping and inland waterways that reach the sea
• Security of sea lanes: the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard
• SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region, 2015) and the Indian Ocean Rim Association

Problems

• Overfishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
• Marine pollution: plastics, oil spills, sewage
• Coral bleaching, sea-level rise and coastal erosion
• High cost and technology needs of deep-sea mining

Potential

• Food, jobs and exports from fisheries and aquaculture
• Energy security from offshore hydrocarbons and ocean energy
• Strategic minerals for industry
• Ports, shipping and coastal tourism