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COrona VIrus Disease (COVID) 2019 pandemic forced most countries to go into complete lockdown and India went on complete lockdown from 24th March 2020 to 8th June 2020. To understand the possible implications of lockdown, we analyze the long-term distribution of Net Primary Productivity (NPP) in the North Indian Ocean (NIO) and the factors that influence NPP directly and indirectly, for the period 2003-2019 and 2020 separately. There exists a seasonal cycle in the relationship between Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and NPP in agreement with the seasonal transport of aerosols and dust into these oceanic regions. In Arabian Sea (AS), the highest Chl-a (0.58 mg/m3), NPP (696.57 mg/C/m2/day) and AOD (0.39) are observed in June, July, August, and September (JJAS). Similarly, maximum Chl-a (0.48 mg/m3) and NPP (486.39 mg/C/m2/day) are found in JJAS and AOD (0.27) in March, April, and May (MAM) in Bay of Bengal. The interannual variability of Chl-a and NPP with wind speed and Sea Surface Temperature (SST) is also examined, where the former has a positive and the latter has a negative feedback to NPP. The interannual variability of NPP reveals a decreasing trend in NPP, which is interlinked with the increasing trend in SST and AOD. The analysis of wind, SST, Chl-a, and AOD for the pre-lockdown, lockdown, and post lockdown periods of 2020 is employed to understand the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on NPP. The assessment shows the reduction in AOD, decreased wind speeds, increased SST and reduced NPP during the lockdown period as compared to the pre-lockdown, post-lockdown and climatology. This analysis is expected to help to understand the impact of aerosols on the ocean biogeochemistry, nutrient cycles in the ocean biogeochemical models, and to study the effects of climate change on ocean ecosystems.

Ethnobiological knowledge is an important part of people's capacity to manage, conserve, and improve the governance of mangrove ecosystems. This paper assesses the ethnobiological importance of mangroves to coastal communities adjacent to seven mangrove forests in Southern and North-western Sri Lanka. 197 households were interviewed, and respondents identified various mangrove ecosystem goods and services. Fruit juice produced from Sonneratia spp. and salads made with Acrostichum aureum L. young leaves constitutes valuable edible products in both regions. Rhizophora mucronata Lamk. and Lumnitzera racemosa Willd., were employed as alternative sources of fuel. Other uses of mangroves include wood for construction, chemical, and medicinal products. However, the usage extent was significantly higher in the Southern province (87.6%) compared to the North-western province (51%). Five indices were developed to understand the ethnobiological knowledge of respondents (Mangrove Use Index, Perception Index, Regulation Awareness Index, and Knowledge Index, Mangrove Dynamics Index). Except for the Mangrove Use Index, the rest of the indices were significantly different between the provinces. Communities with higher mangrove knowledge showed lesser usage. Respondents had negative attitudes towards the regulations that limit/did not allow the community to enter mangrove forests. Community participation, ethnobiological importance, and perspectives regarding how the community wants to manage mangrove forests should be taken into account to avoid conflicts in the future. Considering local perceptions and translating them into mangrove management regulations can be effective in guiding sustainable mangrove management in Sri Lanka as well as in other countries in the world.

The Irrawaddy (IR) is the largest river discharging into the Andaman Sea and plays an important role in the salinity distribution and the mixed layer physics of the Andaman Sea. This study presents the first report of the IR plume pathways in the Andaman Sea during the summer monsoon and the mechanisms behind them. An ocean circulation model is employed to conduct idealized experiments in which the freshwater forcing, due to rivers other than IR as well as precipitation, are ignored. Our simulations reveal that, during the summer monsoon, the discharge from Irrawaddy spreads as a freshwater jet oriented towards southeast and accumulates over the shelf at the eastern coast of the Andaman Sea. Climatology of Chlorophyll-a concentration measured by satellite and surface currents from global ocean model reanalysis indicates the presence of the Irrawaddy freshwater jet during the summer monsoon. The evolution of surface salinity and currents along the jet suggests that the IR freshwater traps momentum imparted by winds. The momentum balance in the Irrawaddy jet is between Coriolis and wind friction term, indicating that the freshwater jet is completely driven by winds during the summer monsoon. Surface distribution of wind friction term also shows that the northwest-southeast orientation of the Irrawaddy jet is due to the southwesterly orientation of the summer monsoon winds. Further experiments with three different wind forcing scenarios (no winds, winds over the equator only, and winds over the Bay of Bengal only) reveal that the flow of Irrawaddy jet during the summer monsoon is completely controlled by the local winds.

The Introduction of this paper argues that current coastal and ocean management approaches like marine spatial planning (MSP) often do not adequately acknowledge and integrate Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK). This is problematic because how humans value and perceive coastal and marine resources is integrally linked to how they use and manage these resources, especially in adapting to social-ecological change. Coastal and marine resources are situated within complex social-ecological systems that are culturally, economically, historically and politically embedded. Therefore, management approaches have to integrate transdisciplinary and contextual perspectives in order to be relevant, sustainable and adaptive. Following extensive research in Algoa Bay, South Africa this article highlights several pathways to bridge the gap between existing ILK and current coastal and ocean management approaches. The Methods section discusses how the authors worked in tandem with a bottom-up (engaging with Indigenous and local coastal and marine resource users) and top-down (engaging with coastal governance authorities and practitioners) approach. In order to answer the primary research question "How can ILK be integrated into area-based ocean management like MSP"? the authors employed arts-based participatory methods as well as in-depth interviews and workshops with coastal governance authorities and practitioners over several months. This work then culminated in a one-day multi-stakeholder workshop which brought both ILK holders and coastal authorities and practitioners together to collaboratively identify pathways to integrate this knowledge into coastal and ocean management. In the Results and Discussion section the authors present and discuss five co-identified pathways to integrate ILK in coastal and ocean management which include: adopting contextual approaches to coastal and ocean management; increasing transparency and two-way communication between coastal authorities and

Madagascar fishermen protect mangroves to save jobs.

The environmental impact of a coal plant on Kenya's coast is being underplayed.

Policymakers could use surf breaks to create jobs and reduce poverty.

Cruise Industry to Boost South Africa Economy.

In coming decades as coastal communities around the world are expected to encounter sea-level rise, the general expectation has been that people's migration toward the coast will slow or reverse in many places.