Marine National Park in the Gulf of Kutch protects a coastline where the sea periodically withdraws to reveal a living mosaic of coral, mangroves, mudflats, creeks and rocky shore. Located along the northern Jamnagar coast in Gujarat, it is a rare protected area experienced as much by tide table as by map. Gujarat Tourism identifies the surrounding Marine Wildlife Sanctuary, declared in 1980, and the national park, created in 1982, as India’s first protected areas of their respective marine categories.
The official tourism authority gives the sanctuary an area of 458 square kilometres and the national park 163 square kilometres, encompassing 42 tropical islands. Pirotan, Narala, Ajad and Positara are among the coral-fringed islands it names. This diversity of habitats supports reef organisms, molluscs, crustaceans, fish and extensive birdlife. Dolphins and other notable wildlife occur in the wider gulf, but sightings depend on season, conditions and chance and should never be promised.