Ruddy Gustave said there are only 2.4 million hectare of mangrove forests left today from 4.25 million in 1982.
Mangrove forests function as natural sea barriers preventing land abrasion by the sea.
It happened after thousands of hectares of mangrove forests were damaged following rampant tourism construction projects and arbitrary slashes by locals for firewood. They claimed the forests was nobody's land therefore they were free to exploit it. Ruddy said that the government had allocated 800,000 hectares, mostly in mangrove forests, for the shrimp hatchery industry. He said about 390,000 hectares had been used for the purpose. However, Skephi in its statement said that law enforcement remains unsatisfactory.