Abstract
The economic assessment on juvenile landings of four dominant marine catfishes at New Ferry Wharf (NFW) landing centre, Mumbai, Northwest coast of India was carried out during January to December, 2013. The dominant catfishes viz. Nemapteryx caelata (19.7 %), Plicofollis dussumieri (21.5 %), P. tenuispinis (24.8 %) and Osteogeneiosus militaris (27.5 %) together contributing 93% of total marine catfish landings of the state. Among four species, the juvenile landings of N. caelata contribute maximum(93.17 %) followed by P. dussumieri (57.14 %), O. militaris (36.11 %) and P. tenuispinis (21.43 %) with the maximum landing during November to March . The bioeconomic model reveals that if juveniles are allowed to grow up to length at first maturity (Lm); an estimated total annual economic gain will be Rs. 13.15 crores with an estimated biomass gain of 1222 t per annum. The estimated total annual biomass is increased by 2.07 times with an increase in additional revenue by 3.7 times would have been realised. The results of present study suggest that sustainable harvest of these resources would have been yielded maximum economic return to the fishers. With the help of stakeholders participatory approach, management measures such as strict mesh size regulation, effort restriction on bottom trawl up to 50 m depth and awareness campign on catching juveniles and adult in particulat to the oral incubated male ariids, would have been implemented during November to March to avoid growth over fishing.
Highlights
In Indian waters, marine catfishes were represented by 23 species, of which 11 species forms commercial fishery.[17]
The mortality rate was calculated as the proportion of total and natural mortality.14The economic loss due to juvenile landings of each species was estimated by assuming that the weight gained if they were allowed to grow up to length at first maturity
In N. caelata, Lmean was 268 mm and length at first maturity (Lm) was 408 mm, if juveniles are not caught and allowed to grow up to Lm, an additional revenue of Rs. 9.99 crores (Table 2) would have been realized and biomass added was found to be 1,250 tonnes per annum. It was evident from the present study that notable reduction in Lmean from 300 mm in 1990’s to present 268 mm and the reason may be due to growth overfishing of the stock by bottom trawlers in Northwest coast.[5, 7]
Summary
In Indian waters, marine catfishes were represented by 23 species, of which 11 species forms commercial fishery.[17] The distribution of ariids all along the Indian coast between 30 and 80 m depths with maximum abundance over inshore muddy bottom habitats[16, 19, 21]. Anintroduction of mechanised trawlers (1966-75) and purse seiners (1976-80) in Maharashtra coast resulted increase in catfish catch, with the maximum landings of 67,666 tonnes was noticed in 1982, thereafter the landing decreased gradually to 45,335 t in 2005 with the Sugumar et al, Curr. .New Ferry Wharf (NFW) is one of the major fish landing centre in India representing 33 % of the trawl catch of Maharashtra state[2, 6]. The present paper aims to quantify the juvenile landings in shrimp trawlers in New Ferry Wharf (NFW) landing centre of Mumbai waters and its economic evaluation due to juvenile fishing
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