Browsing by Author "Niyarepola, R. D. A. M. G."

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    A review of export trade of indigenous aquatic plants species in Sri Lanka and their conservation issues
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2015) Bandaranayake, R.D.C.; Bambaranda, B.V.A.M.S.; Jayamanne, S.C.; Niyarepola, R. D. A. M. G.
    Aquatic plants are adapted to aquatic environments and are required special adaptations for living submerged in water or at the water’s surface. In addition to various ecological and industrial values, most of aquatic plants are having ornamental value. Due to the ornamental value of the aquatic plants, they have a huge demand and are exported from Sri Lanka. Along with ornamental fish industry, aquatic plants are introduced and exported as a simultaneous industry. Present study was intended to analyze and evaluate the trade of ornamental aquatic plants in Sri Lanka with a particular focus on indigenous species. The objectives of the study are determine the exported species and their quantities, the actual foreign exchange earnings, identify the conservation issues related to indigenous species, identify the trends to occur irregularities in exportation procedure and propose suitable. Materials and Methods Exported aquatic plants species data and their quantities were extracted from the Customs Goods Declaration Forms (CusDec) submitted by the ornamental aquatic plants exporters to the Air Cargo Terminal in Katunayake under the Department of Sri Lanka Customs. The Customs Goods February 2014 were analyzed. A questionnaire was also used to gather information regarding the conservation issues through ornamental aquatic plants exporters, Custom officers at frontier and local villagers. Results and Discussion February in 2014, a total of 218 species of aquatic plants has been exported to 43 countries from Sri Lanka. Among the total, 176 species were indigenous, 1 species was endemic. When considering the total quantities of exported indigenous aquatic plants during the one year period, the most common species exported was the Dracaena sanderiana white (168185 individuals) and Lobelia cardinalis “small leaf”(4 individuals) was the species exported in least quantities. During the one year study period, 1504531 individuals of aquatic plants and 2047620 all types of live plants have been exported from Sri Lanka. When considering the proportions of species exported during one year period, the endemics consist of 0.04% (685individuals) and other indigenous species consisted of 80.91%(1217353individuals) among all other aquatic plants. The proportion of indigenous aquatic plants species consisted of 59.45% and endemics consisted of 0.03% among exported all types of live plants from Sri Lanka. And the proportion of exported aquatic plants to all live plants is 73.47% from Sri Lanka during my study period.