CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography

Dona Paula, Goa

CRZ MAPPING : ISSUES AND CONCERNS

Dr B.Prabhakara Rao
Senior Principal Scientist
CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography
Visakhapatnam

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 CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography
Dona Paula, Goa

CRZ areas as declared by Central Government are :

i) The land area from High Tide Line (HTL) to 500m on the landward side along the sea
front.

ii) In case of Tidal influenced Creeks/Rivers, the land area between HTL to 100 m or
width of the creek/River

(iii) The land area falling between the hazard line and 500 m from HTL on the landward
side for the open sea and between the hazard line and 100m for tidal influenced
creek/rivers .

(iv) Land area between HTL and LTL (intertidal zone)

(v) The area between LTL to the territorial water limit (12 nm) towards sea. For Creeks ,
LTL to LTL on either side of the tidal influenced creek /Rivers.
CRZ map generally depicts the following features
• Demarcation of High Tide Line
• Demarcation of Low Tide Line
• Demarcation of 200 m and 500m setback lines from HTL for open sea
• Mapping of 100 m setback lines for creeks and Rivers
• Mapping of eco sensitive zones like Mangroves , sand dunes , Mudflats etc.
• Mapping of Hazard Line (If provided by SOI)
• Superposition of the following over CRZ map
1) CRZ boundaries
2) HTL, LTL, Ecologically sensitive zones such as mangroves, sand dunes etc.
3) Boundary and other facilities of the proposed project site
• Presentation of Maps in 1:25000 and 1: 4000 scale with all the above details.
 CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography
Dona Paula, Goa

Demarcation of High Tide Line

High Tide Line (HTL) in the coastal regulation zone notification is defined as line up to which
highest high tide reaches in spring tides. As per CRZ notification ,it is delineated by walking over
or remote sensing data or by helicopter survey. We demarcate the HTL by walking over the
HTL physical all along the shore . During delineation of HTL, the geographic coordinates of HTL
are collected in Everest / WGS 84 datum.

Demarcation of Low Tide Line (LTL):

The Low Tide Line is the limit up to which the lowest low tide recedes during spring tide. A Low
Tide Line (LTL) is marked by bathymetric chart of the coastal area with the consideration of
chart datum line (0 line) in the bathymetry chart. The line along which zero meter depth occurs
on this bathymetric chart is the low tide line.

In general, in the east coast of India LTL is demarcated mainly by taking observations along
water line during low tide time as the bathymetry is not possible in the surf zone area.

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 CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography
Dona Paula, Goa

CRZ -Classification
For the purpose of conserving and protecting the coastal areas and marine
waters, the CRZ area shall be classified as CRZ-I, CRZ II. CRZ III and CRZ-IV.

Category I (CRZ -I):

A. The areas that are ecologically sensitive and the geomorphologic features which play a role in
the maintaining the integrity of the coast,-

Mangroves, in case mangrove area is more than 1000 sq mts. Corals and coral reefs and
associated biodiversity (b) Sand Dunes (c) Mudflats which are biologically active
(d)National parks, marine parks, sanctuaries, reserve forests, wildlife habitats and other
protected areas under the provisions of Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 or Environment
(Protection) including Biosphere Reserves (e) Salt Marshes (f) Turtle nesting grounds (g)
Horse shoe crabs habitats (h) Sea grass beds (i) Nesting grounds of birds and (j) Areas or
structures of archaeological importance and heritage sites.

B. The area between Low Tide Line and High Tide Line;
 CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography
Dona Paula, Goa

Category II (CRZ II):

The areas which are developed up to or close to the shoreline and falling within
municipal limits.

Buildings are permissible on the landward side of the existing road, authorized
structure or hazardous line where there are no authorised structures.

Category III (CRZ -III):

CRZ-III areas are those areas that are relatively undisturbed and do not fall under
either in Category I or II and also include rural and urban areas that are not
substantially developed

a) The area up to 200m from the HTL is 'No Development Zone‘ where no
construction shall be permitted .

b) In general , between 200 and 500m, construction and repair of houses of local
Fishermen communities and tourism projects are permissible activities.
 CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography
Dona Paula, Goa

Category IV (CRZ-IV):
• The water area from the Low Tide Line to twelve nautical miles seaward.

• The area between LTL to LTL for creeks/Rivers .

SPECIAL CONSIDERATION:

(v) Areas requiring special consideration for the purpose of protecting the critical coastal
environment and difficulties faced by local communities,-

A. (i) CRZ area falling within municipal limits of Greater Mumbai;

(ii) The CRZ areas of Kerala including the backwaters and backwater islands;

(iii) CRZ areas of Goa.

B. Critically Vulnerable Coastal Areas (CVCA) such as Sunderbans of West Bengal

C. Island Protection Zone (IPZ)

GUIDELINES FOR PREPARATION OF COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT PLAN
MAPS:

A.Demarcation of High Tide Line

1. Demarcation of High Tide Line (HTL) and Low Tide Line (LTL) shall be carried out by one of the
agencies authorised by MoEF based on the recommendations of the National Centre for
Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM).

Authorised agencies by MoEF for carrying out CRZ mapping

•Space Application Centre – Ahmadabad
•Centre for Remote Sensing – CESS ,Tiruvanantapuram
•Institute for Remote Sensing – Anna University – Chennai
•Institute for wetland Management and ecological designs – Kolkata
•National Hydrographic Office – Dehradun
•National Institute of Oceanography – Goa
•National Institute of Ocean Technology – Chennai
The above agencies follow different methodology for demarcation of HTL and . LTL. We
suggest to have uniform methodology to be adopted by all agencies to avoid any ambiguity
in demarcation of HTL.
2. Demarcation of the High Tide Line or LTL shall be made on the Coastal Zone Management
(CZM) Maps of scale 1:25,000 prepared by the agencies identified by the MoEF.

We are unable to procure CZMP maps to superimpose our CRZ map

As per MOEF guidelines, it is also required to submit 1:25000 and also 1:4000 maps for
clearance.

However as per our experience 1: 4000 scale maps are too big (A0 Size) even for 4 KM
length of the coast line and use by the concerned experts of MoEF. If the area is more , then
it is difficult to view the maps at a glance. Hence, it is ideal to prepare 1: 10000 scale maps
in lieu of 1: 4000 , in addition to 1:25000 which would be easy for handling and evaluation by
the concerned experts.

3. Local level CZM Maps shall be prepared for use of officials of local bodies for determination of
the CRZ.

Local Level CZM Maps are prepared by respective state Governments based on CRZ maps
prepared by Authorized agencies for the purpose of local bodies
B. Preparation of CRZ Maps

•Base Maps of 1:25,000 scale shall be acquired from the Survey of India (SOI) and wherever
1:25,000 maps are not available, 1:50,000 maps shall be enlarged to 1:25,000 for the purpose of
base map preparation and these maps will be of the standard specification given below:
Unit : 7.5 minutes X 7.5minutes
Numbering : Survey of India Sheet Numbering System
Horizontal Datum : Everest or WGS 84
Vertical Datum : Mean Sea Level (MSL)

At present all existing czm maps are prepared by taking the consideration of SOI topo sheet as
base maps.

As Survey of India maps are restricted for some coastal areas , base maps are prepared
from data acquired by us only with above datum.
• The following geomorphological features shall be considered while demarcating in HTL or LTL:

Landward (monsoonal) berm crest in the case of sandy beaches, Rocks, Headlands, Cliffs
Seawalls or revetments or embankments
In general, we are consideration the above factors for Physical demarcated of HTL.

• 200 meter and 500 meter lines will be demarcated with respect of HTL.

• Classification of different coastal zones shall be done as per the CRZ notification

• Symbols and code Numbers will be adopted from CZM Maps.

• Colour codes as given in CZMP Maps shall be used.

At present , Color codes are not uniform and features are denoted with different colors by
different states in CZMP maps. Hence common color codes and numbers in CZMP Maps of
all states are to be defined by MoEF/NCZMA to avoid confusion.

D. Hazard mapping:-

Hazard Line Mapping will be carried out by Survey of India (SOI)

ONGOING MAJOR CRZ PROJECTS:-

(1) Demarcation of High Tide line, Low Tide Line and delineation of CRZ
boundaries along the coast between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada,
Andhra Pradesh.

To Promote investment in the Petroleum, Chemicals and Petro Chemical industry and make
the country an important hub for both domestic and international markets, Government of India
has decided to attract major investments, both domestic and foreign, by providing a transparent
and investment-friendly policy regime.

The Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR) may include one
or more Special Economic Zones(SEZs),Industrial Parks, Free Trade &Warehousing Zones,
Export Oriented Units and Growth Centers, duly notified under the relevant Central or State
legislation or Policy. PCPIRs at Visakhapatnam-Kakinada in the state of Andhra Pradesh is one
such initiative.
For this project, we are doing CRZ mapping for the coastal stretch between Gangavaram Port
and Kakinada port. The total length to cover CRZ is around 500 km including Creeks. For the
creeks we are using DGPS and for the open coast we are using Total station to collect the HTL
data. For mapping of land use features we use satellite imagery.

(2) Demarcation of High Tide line, Low Tide Line and delineation of CRZ boundaries
along the Tapi river and open coast near Hazira.

Reliance Industries Ltd intends to install Coal based steam cum power plant of 360MW capacity
at Hazira manufacturing Division in Gujarat in place of the existing gas based power plant. They
also proposed coal jetty along the Tapi estuary to transport the coal. We are carrying out the
CRZ studies in the 7 Km radius of the project area.

For this project work we are using Total station for open coast and DGPS for Tapi river to collect
the HTL data.