Navi Mumbai airport authorities vow to make skies safer for planes and birds

Navi Mumbai: Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) authorities have vowed to make the skies safer for both birds and aircraft.

Presenting the 'integrated & collaborative efforts' for wildlife hazard management, NMIA has informed the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) that studies by the Bombay Natural History Society (BHNS) show that migratory and native birds fly much below the flight path of the aircraft.

In a separate documentation as part of its Environmental Compliance reports, NMIA has committed to preserve and conserve biodiversity as per the final recommendations from the BNHS.

Hailing the developments as positive, NatConnect Foundation has expressed the hope that the NMIA will stick to its word and help conserve all major wetlands of Navi Mumbai which are home to a host of water birds such as flamingos.

NatConnect Director B N Kumar appealed to the government to speed up issuing a GR for declaring the DPS Flamingo Lake as a conservation reserve as per the State Wildlife Board’s recommendation.

The internationally renowned Wildlife Institute of India (WII) which endorsed the state forest department’s decision to conserve DPS Lake, has also strongly favoured the protection of other tidal influenced wetlands such as NRI and TS Chanakya, Kumar pointed out in a press statement.

NMIA said it has developed a detailed Wildlife Hazard Management Programme (WHMP) as per ICAO's Procedures for Air Navigation Services (PANS) Aerodrome Document 9981, outlining specific measures to be implemented including active and passive methods and regular wildlife monitoring.

NMIA also appointed an external agency “Birdgard India” to carry out WHM assessment surveys in and around the airport up to 13 kms radius covering all the seasons.

BNHS, on its part, has studied the bird movements far and wide from reservoirs, lakes to inter-tidal wetlands and reported that the local movement of birds is commonly restricted to an altitude of less than 50 m above sea level.

BNHS study, which formed part of the Environmental Compliance reports presented by the NMIA Limited to the government, covered Lotus Lake, Ballaleshwar Lake, Kharghar Wetland, Ulwe Wetland, Owe Dam, Morbe Dam, Gadeshwar Dam and Panvel-Belapur Creek. These birds fly at a high altitude during their long-distance migration journey, and after reaching their preferred destination they land into wetlands and mud flat areas along the Thane creek.

Based on data visualisation, BNHS said “it appears that aircraft taking off or landing on NMIA runways typically maintain an altitude above the observed flight elevation of birds in Thane Creek”. The studies will continue.

The NMIA report to ICAO said the various avian species around the airport project area observed during initial survey were classified into five types based on various habitats and feeding behaviours -surface feeders, dive feeders, aerial hunters, ground hunters, and shore feeders.

Bird populations in the NMIA area vary seasonally and are quite fascinating, with migratory species arriving during different times of the year, especially in the winter months, migratory birds from various regions arrive, adding to the local avian diversity. Many species from colder regions migrate to the NMIA area to escape harsh winters. These include flamingos, various types of ducks, waders like sandpipers and plovers, and raptors such as eagles and kites, NMIA said.

Some species migrate to the area during the summer for breeding purposes. These can include certain types of terns, bee-eaters, shrikes, swifts and other shorebirds.