India, July 12 -- The Goa State Biodiversity Board has issued an advisory warning against unrestricted harvesting of seasonal wild mushrooms saying that it was a major risk to the state's biodiversity and such action could invite legal action against the harvesters.

The Board urged traditional harvesters to "leave behind at least fifty percent young stages on the termite mounds for conservation of their biodiversity" in order to ensure that the survival of vulnerable species are not threatened by overharvesting.

"The Wildlife Protection Act 1972 has ensured protection of natural species of wild mushrooms in wildlife sanctuaries but still people enter secretly in the forest and pluck mushrooms," the advisory said cautioning that "people ...