CEFAS23-135 Contract for water quality sampling and analysis services for Chilika Lagoon under the Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP)

As part of the Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP), Cefas have identified objectives for work in India which supports the overall aim of the Sustainable Seafood project. The aim is to fill data gaps in species diversity to inform the management of fisheries activities across the salinity gradient of the lagoon. The project objectives are: 1. to develop a holistic picture of the species diversity in the entire Chilika lagoon with in-situ validation of eDNA analysis 2. identify the correlation of species diversity with environmental variables 3. the identification of different zones in the lagoon in terms of their species diversity such as zone with "higher abundance of commercial species", with "invasive species", with "scheduled species" etc. The work will contribute towards developing a site specific management plan for the entire lagoon.