Assessment of Potential Marine Fishing Zone Using Geospatial Technologies at the Coastal Stretch of West Bengal, India

Abstract

Selection of the Potential Fishing Zone (PFZ) is a key regularity factor in any fish trawling operation affecting both successes and sustainability where maximum possibility of fish catch is expected in comparison with areas which are not notified. Abundance of marine fishes at Potential Fishing Zone (PFZ) exists due to easy availability of food components, and those are defined by tracing those regions in the ocean where a sharp Sea Surface Temperature (SST) gradient along with optimal chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration coexists at a given time. Survey on the occurrence of marine fishes of the northern Bay of Bengal coast was conducted during the period of year 2014–2016 covering 158 km coastline. LANDSAT-8 derived Chl-a and SST data obtained in two successive winter seasons of 2015–2016 was used to develop raster images. The Potential Fishing Zone (PFZ) was demarcated by overlaid of Chl-a and SST raster images in ERDAS imagine. The PFZs were also validated through the landed fish in situ catch data from nine major fish landing stations. It was shown that 333 fish species were found with the marine ecosystems with respect to different fishing zone of West Bengal coast. The catch per unit effort (CPUE) values were shown to be very close to that of the CPUE value of PFZ advisories of Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS). The consequences of the present investigations illustrated that the availability of 333 marine fish species and predicted PFZs helps to design a proper management, better conservation effort and support to the awareness of local fishermen, policy formation to decision-makers and government.