INTRODUCTION

Mangroves are unique trees and shrubs thriving along intertidal coastlines on soft saline sediments that are often anaerobic and sometimes acidic. Mangroves are well known for their adaptability, productivity and carbon sequestration. The estuaries including mangrove habitats of most of the Indian west coast are much smaller compared to such along the east coast, with the overwhelming presence of Sundarbans and Orissa mangroves. These estuarine regions, densely populated due to high productivity, are prone to rising human pressures causing greater mangrove fragmentation and losses.  The lack of spatial quantitative maps on mangroves for the west coast has often crippled restoration programmes. In the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka State, mangrove planting works in the small estuaries attempted during the recent years have raised high hopes of better ecology and higher biological production. Yet the local forest departments, which manage most mangrove areas, are to be equipped with spatial, quantified data on mangroves and potential area for mangrove planting. The aim of this paper is to depict accurately the current distribution of mangroves using GIS and remote sensing based maps, estuary-wise and creek-wise and forest administrative unit-wise and also estimating and showing on micro-level maps the potential area for mangrove planting in the  Honavar forest division of Canara Circle.