Orissa is known for its diverse marine wealth – for decades, the Irrawady dolphin, horseshoe crab, olive ridley sea turtle, thick mangrove swamps, and rich commercial fish stocks have attracted people to the Orissa coastline; numerous fishing communities dot the coastline, each profiting daily from a wide range of valuable marine resources.

Recent years have seen endangered marine species, including the olive ridley sea turtle and commercial fish stocks. And thus Orissa’s economically significant commercial fisheries face serious challenges. Daily, the coast is threatened by destructive fishing practices, water pollution by toxic effluents, illegal aquaculture, and the negative fallouts of coastal infrastructure like offshore oil and gas exploration and port development. Now more than ever, communities and wildlife alike need to meet the challenges that threaten to cause irreversible damage to Orissa’s fragile marine environment.

The state of Orissa has a coastline of 480 km., and one of the most dynamic coastal environments in India due to its location, and physical factors especially its network of barrage, powerful rivers with their delta and estuarine systems, each with a variety of ecological niches and habitats. The coastline traverses six coastal districts of Orissa, viz. Balasore (80 km.), Bhadrak (50 km.), Kendrapara (68 km.), Jagatsinghpur (67 km.), Puri (155 km.) and Ganjam (60 km.).

Orissa is an important maritime state located on the eastern coast of the Indian Peninsula. The coastal zone in Orissa is amongst the most dynamic of India’s coastal environments, due to its critical location as well as physical, biological and oceanographic process. Due to a multitude of large rivers and dynamic estuarine areas, the 480 km. coastline supports a variety of ecological niches and habitats. Orissa’s coastline stretches from near Udaypur village bordering West Bengal to the marshy areas bordering Ichhapuram in Andhra Pradesh.

The coastline traverses six coastal districts. The major and minor rivers of Orissa, which drain into the Bay of Bengal, are the Subarnarekha, the Budhabalanga, the Brahmani, the Baitarani, the Hansua, the Mahanadi, the Devi, the Kadua, the Kushabhadra, the Rushikulya, and the Bahuda. The coastline of Balasore and Bhadrak district is concave in shape, stretching from Subarnarekha river mouth up to Dhamra river mouth; whereas the central portion of Orissa coast from Dhamra river mouth up to the coastline of Chilika lagoon bulges out with the Bramhani, Baitarani and Mahanadi river systems dominating the geography. Over the years, a sequence of changes has taken place in these deltas through appearance and disappearance of distributaries, channels, lakes, sand bars, tidal flats, beaches and offshore islands.