TheVulnerable bumphead parrotfishBolbometopon muricatum, a highly prized fishery resource worldwide, has experienced population declines throughout its geographical range. There is limited knowledge of the distribution and abundance of, and threats to, this fish in Indian waters, particularly for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Accidental entanglement of turtles in abandoned fshing nets has been, and will likely continue to be, a major threat to sea turtles. Te impact of abandoned or lost nets, also known as ghost nets, can occur far from their point of origin as nets may drif far distances with ocean currents. Turtles that swim through ghost nets may get their body or fippers snagged in the net, potentially leading to lost circulation and injury to fippers, drowning, or prevention from feeding to the point of starvation.

Prioritizing efforts for conserving rare and threatened species with limited past data and lacking population estimates is predicated on robust assessments of their occupancy rates. This is particularly challenging for elusive, long-lived and wide-ranging marine mammals. In this paper we estimate trends in long-term (over 50years) occupancy, persistence and extinction of a vulnerable and data-poor dugong (Dugong dugon) population across multiple seagrass meadows in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago (India).

The earthquake and tsunami of 2004 resulted in the devastation of marine and coastal ecosystems across the Indian Ocean. However, without adequate baseline information it has been difficult to properly gauge its full impact. The reefs of the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal lie on a path that ranges from 190 to 500 km from Banda Aceh, the epicentre of the 2004 tsunami. In 2008, we recorded benthic damage as a result of the tsunami to reefs off 14 Nicobar Islands across a gradient of distance from the epicentre.