Gulf of Mannar pearl banks (Paars): colonial oyster fisheries and benthic ecology?
4 Answers from travellers
The historic pearl fisheries of the Gulf of Mannar—documented by Pliny and Marco Polo and heavily exploited during the Dutch and British colonial regimes—collapsed due to several combined factors: severe overfishing of breeding stocks during unregulated auction cycles, mobile bottom trawlers destroying delicate calcareous sandstone ridges (paars) where oyster spat settles, and siltation caused by coastal dredging that choked filter-feeding juvenile bivalves. Current NARA seabed surveys reveal localized populations of Pinctada, but commercial harvests remain suspended to protect benthic habitats.
The historic Doric Bungalow at Arippu—built by colonial Governor Frederick North to overlook the pearl fisheries—is slowly collapsing into the eroding coastal sea bluff.
The sandy shoals around the old pearl banks serve as a critical sanctuary for the endangered dugong (Dugong dugon), which feeds on shallow Halophila ovalis seagrass beds.
Operating illegal bottom-trawling nets in these designated marine replenishment areas carries vessel confiscation under current fisheries enforcement initiatives.
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