In Puttlam District in Sri Lanka (130 km north of Colombo) mangrove area was reduced from 3650 ha in 1983 to about 2000 ha in 1994. The loss was "mainly for prawn farming". In general "exploitation of Sri Lankan mangrove resources has occurred for last few decades and it is significantly high in the last few years with the rapid expansion of prawn farming." Mangroves serve many important functions, including filtering sediments which may otherwise smother reefs, providing habitat for juvenile fish, lobster, crocodiles and sea birds and protecting shorelines from erosion. Source: Sunil Liyanage (1995).Pilot project on participatory management of Seguwanthive mangrove habitat in Puttalam District of Sri Lanks. Paper present to the International Conference on Wetlands and Development, 8-14 October 1995, Selangor, Malaysia.