IMPACT OF AQUACULTURE GROWTH ON KOLLERU LAKE AREA, INDIA USING REMOTE SENSING AND GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM

Aquaculture`has become an important economic activity worldwide which resulted in growing concerns about its impact on important ecosystems. Kolleru is one of the largest freshwater lakes in Asia. It is situated between 81º 04' 23" to 81º 24' 53" latitude and 16º 32' 03" to 16º 46' 49" longitude. In 2002 the Kolleru Lake was designated as a Ramsar site and undergone tremendous changes due to development of aquaculture. Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) are now providing new tools for advanced ecosystem management.

This research demonstrates the ability of GIS and Remote Sensing in capturing spatial-temporal data and an attempt was made to capture land use land cover classes as they change through time(1938-2017). The topographic maps from 1938 to 2017 intersected map produced by change detection analysis revealed the disappearance of a major portion of the Kolleru Lake during the last three decades. The 1938 and 1967 years topographic sheets and Landsat_5 TM  of 1997 and Resoucesat_2 LISS 4  of 2017 satellite images were used and analysed by latest version of Arc GIS 10.4.and  ERDAS IMAGINE 2016(Version 16.00).  It was estimated from the topographic map of 1938 that the total lake boundary area was 230.15 km2.The present study revealed through the digital image processing of 2017 satellite data that Kolleru was no longer a lake and shrinked with the lake area of 76.9 km2 (32.45%)only. There is therefore an urgent need for it^,s restoration and save beautiful freshwater lake from ecological degradation nhrough people^,s active participation.