FISHCMFRISIL201200700007
Fishery of large pelagics was monitored from nine centres covering north-west, south-north-west, south-east and north-east coast and database on catch, effort and catch composition were updated. Large pelagic fishery was supported by tunas, seerfishes, billfishes, barracudas, dolphinfishes, cobia, rainbowrunner, leatherjackets and fullbeaks.
Fishery
Large pelagics contributed 198206 t accounting for 5.5% of the mainland’s total marine fish production. Major share of the landing was by tunas (44.8%) followed by seerfishes (24.8%) and barracudas (9.9%). Other major resources were billfishes (4.7%), dolphinfishes (4.5%), carangids (leather jackets and rainbow runners) (7.9%), belonids (1.6%) and cobia (1.6%). Major states contributing to the fishery are Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Contribution by different states to the landings of each resource varied considerably. Landings recorded a steady increase over the years from
View of large pelagics landed at Cochin Fisheries Harbour
0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0
West Bengal Orissa Andhra Pradesh Pondicherry Tamilnadu Kerala Karnataka Goa Maharashtra Gujarat Daman&Diu
Contribution by different states to catch of large pelagics in 2014
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62000 t in 1985 to 198991 t in 2012 and declined marginally thereafter. The change in landings during the year was positive (11.4%) compared to mean yield of the previous five years (2009-2013).
Tuna: Tunas constituted 44.8% of the total large pelagic fishery during the year with a landing of 88841 t. Tuna landings increased steadily over the years with wide annual fluctuations from 23544 t in 1987 to 88841t in 2014.
The change during the years was positive (23.8 %) compared to mean yield of the just previous five years (2009-2013).
Fishery was supported by five species of neritic tunas and 4 species of oceanic tunas respectively, representing 68 and 32% of the catch. Kawakawa (Euthynnus affinis), frigate tuna (Auxis thazard), bullet tuna (Auxis rochei), longtail tuna (Thunnus tonggol) and bonito (Sarda orientalis) represented the netritic group. Oceanic group was represented by yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis), big-eye tuna (Thunnus obesus) and dogtooth tuna (Gymnosarda unicolor).
Landings of different groups of large pelagics by different states
Resource Barracudas Billfishes Carangids Dolphinfish Full beaks Kingfish Seerfishes Tunas State total State
Andhra Pradesh 2260 2118 1441 944 261 65 7738 27490 42316
Daman & Diu 637 40 649 676 0 321 1200 3217 6740
Goa 107 0 493 7 9 0 445 6000 7062
Gujarat 3818 899 5853 3313 432 1128 15617 11816 42877
Karnataka 2631 72 719 307 179 131 3728 1549 9316
Kerala 1744 5076 329 1467 419 542 3480 17719 30774
Maharashtra 1376 195 1756 822 420 374 7785 5469 18197
Odisha 117 0 2176 105 55 252 1877 124 4705
Pondicherry 1026 85 145 140 0 10 878 1474 3758
Tamil Nadu 5892 750 1990 1112 1770 316 6139 13973 31941
West Bengal 2 0 169 0 0 20 320 10 520
Resource total 19609 9234 15719 8892 3544 3159 49208 88841 198206
Major share of the catch (76.8%) was from the southern coast of India.
Contribution from south-east coast was 48.3% , followed by south-west cost (28.4%). North-east coast contributed 23.1%, whereas share of north-east coast was negligible (0.2%). Considerable variation was observed in the spatial pattern in the landings of individual species.
Tunas were landed almost round the year along the mainland coast. In general the major fishing season along the coast was August to October.
Along the northwest coast it was September to April, in the southwest coast during August to October, south-east coast during July to September and in the north-east coast from August to September.
Seerfishes: Seerfishes formed 24.8% of the total large pelagic fishery during the year with a production of 49208 t. Fishery was supported by four species-Scomberomorus commerson (63.8%), species-Scomberomorus guttatus (35.9%) and small quantities of Scomberomorus lineolatus as well as Acanthocybium solandri. Seerfishes were exploited all along the coast with major contributions from north-west coast (49.9%), followed by east (30.0%), south-west (15.6%) and north-east coasts. Spatial abundance of species varied
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SUST AINABLE MANAGEMENT OF FISHER Y RESOURCES
production from coastal waters showed marginal decline.
Barracudas: Contributed 9.9% to the large pelagic landings with an estimated landing of 19609 t. Fishery was supported by ten species, dominated by Sphyraena putnamae and Sphyraena jello. They were landed along the entire coast with major share from south-east coast (46.8%) followed by north-west and south-west coasts. Landings maintained a steady increase till 2012 and thereafter showed a steep downtrend. Landings during the year declined by 27.2% compared to the mean of previous five years.
Billfishes: Billfishes contributed 9234 t, accounting for 4.7% of the large pelagic landings. Fishery was supported by five species; three species of marlins and one species each of sailfish and swordfishes. Marlins (Family:
Istiophoridae) were represented by two genera; Makaira and Tetrapturus.
Makaira indica, Makaira mazara, and one species under the genus Tetrapturus were common in the catch. Sailfish in the catch was represented by Istiophorus platypterus and swordfish (Family Xiphidae) by Xiphias gladius. Catch was dominated by sailfishes (46.5%), followed by marlins and swordfishes which were landed all along the coast, except northeast coast with major share from southwest (55.8%) and southeast coasts (32.0%). Landing exhibited steady increase till 2010 and thereafter exhibited stagnation. During the current year, showed marginal uptrend compared to the mean landings of previous five years.
Dolphinfishes: Contributed 8892 t accounting for 4.5% of the large pelagic landings. Fishery was supported by two species; Coryphaena hippurus and small quantities of Coryphaena equiselis. They are landed all along the coast, but major contribution (54.2%) was from north-west coast. Though they formed a fishery during the past several years, an increasing trend in their landings was noticed during the recent past due to increased contribution from deeper waters. Cobia: Formed 1.6% of the total large pelagic fishery during the year with a production of 3,159 t. Fishery was supported by single species,Rachycentron canadum. Landing showed a steady increase over the period. Cobia was landed along the entire coast with major share (57.7%) from northwest coast.
Appreciable quantity was landed along the southwest (21.3%) and southeast (12.4%) coasts also.
Carangids: Large carangids were represented by rainbow runner (Elagatis bipinnulata) and queenfishes (Scomberoides tol, S. tala, S. commersonianus and S. lysan) and formed 7.9% of the total large pelagic landing with a production of 15719 t. Fishery was supported by a lone species of rainbow runner and four leather jackets. Excluding the heavy landings in 2008, their
Big-eye tuna landed at Cochin Fisheries Harbour
considerably with wider distribution for king seer, S. commerson along the entire coast, whereas that of S.
guttatus was more abundant towards northern sector of east and west coasts. Wahoo, A. solandri formed a fishery only along the southern states and the landings stagnated around 49300 t since 2000 with wide fluctuations. Extension of fishing effort to deeper waters added to the increased contribution of large king seer and wahoo. However,
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yield showed a gradual and steady increase over the period.They are landed along the entire coast with major share (52.5%) from north-west coast.
Needlefishes: Contribured 1.8% to the total large pelagic landings with a production of 3544 t. Fishery was supported by four species (Strongylura strongylura, Strongylura leiura, Tylosurus crocodilus and Ablennes hians).
Fishery highly fluctuated over the years and showed decline in yield during the last decade. Landings during the year registered a decline of 26.9%
compared to the mean yield of the previous five years. Though the group formed a fishery along the entire coast, northwest was most productive for the species, with a contribution of 49.9%.