Brackish water aquaculture site selection in Palghar Taluk, Thane district of Maharashtra, India, using the techniques of remote sensing and geographical information system

The objective of this study was to identify the potential area for the commencement of sustainable shrimp farming with the help of remote sensing and geographical information systems (GIS). Current land use pattern of the study area (coastal area of Palghar Taluk, Thane district, Maharashtra, India) was extracted from the satellite image (IRS 1D LISS III FCC Print) with the help of global positioning system (GPS) data. Intertidal areas (mudflats) were evaluated for the development of brackish water aquaculture (shrimp farming) and the data on 37 parameters under six major categories namely, engineering parameters, water quality parameters, soil quality parameters, infrastructure facility, meteorological parameters, and social restriction were collected for different mudflat areas GRAM++ (geo referenced area management system) GIS software was used for data analysis. The weighted overlay method was adopted in GIS to delineate the potential area into four major categories as highly suitable, suitable, moderately suitable, and unsuitable. This study revealed that of the total study area of 20431.034 ha, 0.377% is highly suitable, 9.873% is suitable, 1.772% is moderately suitable, 85.027% is unsuitable, and 2.951% is already under aqua farms. The suitable area was further classified into 11 sub-categories indicating priority for development.