Mumbai Harbour
Mumbai Harbour | |
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Neighbourhood | |
UTC+5:30 (IST) | |
Vehicle registration | MH- |
Mumbai Harbour (also
Front Bay is the official name of the harbour[citation needed], so named because the city started as a tiny settlement facing the harbour. The waterbody behind the original settlement, forming an arc between the former Colaba island and Bombay island, up to the Malabar Hill promontory or peninsula, was similarly called Back Bay.
Front Bay is home to the
Islands
There are six islands in the Mumbai Harbour.[1]
Butcher Island, also known as Jawahar Dweep, is used as an oil terminal by the Mumbai Port. It has jetties for tankers and various other infrastructure for offloading crude oil and for loading refined petroleum products. The island is restricted to port employees, and not open to the public.
Cross Island is a small, uninhabited islet just off the coast of the Dockyard Road. Though the remains of old fortifications are visible, the island itself is restricted to the public.
Gharapuri Island, also known as
Oyster Rock is a small group of rock outcroppings in the harbour. The area has restricted access since it is used for naval exercises.
Mumbai Port
Mumbai Port (MbPT) lies midway (18°56.3′N 72°45.9′E / 18.9383°N 72.7650°E) on the western shore of Mumbai Harbour.[2] The port was the pre-eminent commercial port of India in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is known as the gateway to India, and has been a primary factor in the emergence of Mumbai as the commercial capital of India.
Ecology
Pollution
Due to immense population pressures from the Mumbai metropolitan region and the extremely busy maritime trade, the Harbour is considered to be heavily polluted.
This includes reports of heavy metals flux found in the creeks adjacent to the harbour with the harbour acting as a sink for most of the pollutants.[3]
In Art and Literature
The abundance of fish in this area is recorded in a painting by Clarkson Frederick Stanfield of Bombay Harbour—Fishing Boats in the Monsoon., engraved by Edward Goodall and with a poetical illustration by Letitia Elizabeth Landon.
See also
References
- ^ "Islands of Mumbai". Indian Islands Tour. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
- ^ "Port Profile". Mumbai Port Trust. Archived from the original on 25 August 2011. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
- ^ "IAPSO". Iugg.org. Retrieved 22 July 2011.