Loktak Lake

Where is Loktak Lake, and what makes it different?

Loktak Lake, in Manipur, is the largest freshwater lake in Northeast India. Its most distinctive feature is the phumdis, floating mats of soil, vegetation, and organic matter. Keibul Lamjao National Park sits within the lake, on the largest cluster of phumdis, and it is the world’s only floating national park.

Who actually lives on the lake?

Loktak is considered sacred by Manipur’s Meitei community, and over 90% of households around it rely on the lake for their livelihood. Fishermen build circular enclosures called athaphum from cut phumdi to trap fish. Many families live year-round in floating huts called phumsangs, built directly on the phumdis. Keibul Lamjao is the last natural home of the sangai, or Manipur brow-antlered deer, once near-extinct and found nowhere else in the wild. The sangai is Manipur’s state animal, sometimes called the “dancing deer” for its distinctive gait.

Why doesn’t a mat of soil and plants just sink?

Phumdi thickness ranges from a few centimetres to about two metres, and only around a fifth of that sits above the waterline. Here’s why they don’t sink: as the organic matter underneath decomposes, it traps methane and carbon dioxide, which makes the whole mat lighter than water. Phumdis also act as a biofilter, absorbing excess nutrients and pollutants from the water, which helps limit algal overgrowth in the lake.

What happened when the lake got dammed?

Loktak’s surface area varies seasonally, generally estimated between about 250 and 500 sq km, and it was designated a Ramsar Wetland on 23 March 1990. The Ithai Barrage, commissioned in 1983, powers the 105-megawatt Loktak Hydroelectric Power Project. The barrage permanently raised and steadied the lake’s water level, disrupting its natural seasonal flow. This submerged farmland and damaged the phumdi ecosystem, displacing farming and fishing communities. In 1993, Loktak was added to the Ramsar Montreux Record, a list of wetland sites whose ecological character is under threat.

How close did the sangai come to disappearing?

The sangai was believed nearly extinct by 1950. By 1975, its sole surviving wild population had fallen to just 14 animals, all in Loktak’s swamps. Keibul Lamjao National Park was formally established in 1977, specifically to protect this last population on its floating marsh habitat. A 2016 census put the sangai population at 260, a figure still widely repeated in official material. Separate research puts the number far lower, estimating around 91 in 2006, 76 in 2019, and just 64 by 2023. Counting a shy, camouflaged deer across a shifting floating marsh is genuinely difficult.

What has happened to Loktak’s fishing economy?

Before the 1950s, Loktak alone supplied about 60% of all of Manipur’s total fish production. By 2004, that share had fallen to roughly 11%, even though the lake still remains the state’s single largest fishing ground overall. The Manipur government set up the Loktak Development Authority in 1986. It manages the lake’s fisheries, agriculture, tourism, and afforestation, including desilting the lakebed and removing overgrown phumdi. That phumdi removal has drawn criticism from some fishing communities. They see it as clearing the very habitat their livelihood and the sangai both depend on.

What new threat did a 2026 study flag for Loktak?

A July 2026 study warned that rising temperatures and shifting monsoon patterns are shrinking suitable habitat for the rohu, an indigenous carp central to Loktak’s fisheries. Of the lake’s full area, only about 9 sq km is now rated very highly suitable rohu habitat. Roughly 51 sq km more is rated highly suitable. Fish are considered the most sensitive indicator of a wetland’s health. So a shrinking rohu habitat signals stress on the whole lake economy, not just one species. Separately, in March 2026, the Manipur High Court allowed several approved parts of a 2024 Integrated Management Plan for Loktak to proceed. This eased blanket restrictions on development that had stood since 2019. (Source: Mongabay India, July 2026)