Fish Catch Survey and Analysis – An online application for deriving measures and indicators for fish stock assessment

Abstract

As fish are a natural resource, it is important to balance their use and protection. To comprehend the status of fisheries and to keep sustainable harvest levels to prevent the fish population from declining over time, reliable data on both recent and historical catches are crucial. The monitoring and assessment of marine fishery resources have been the primary mandate of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR-CMFRI) since its inception in 1947. Accurate and consistent knowledge about how a fishery is doing, as well as what species and how many are being captured and where they are captured, requires precise data collection, fast and advanced reporting, processing and analysis, and efficient mechanisms to disseminate the results to enable near real-time assessment. Stratified multistage random sampling design (SMRSD), a unique and robust system developed by the institute for the estimation of fish catch and effort over a long period used multiple computer programs built in-house for processing data. The area covering the 1269 fish landing centres along the 6,068-km coastline of India is spatially stratified, with each maritime state divided into suitable nonoverlapping zones based on fishing intensity and geographical considerations. In order to collect data on a real-time basis from the fish landing centres using electronic devices and process it, ICAR-CMFRI developed a web based application software called Fish Catch Survey and Analysis. It is a user-friendly interface with a variety of data entry options, and a suite of analysis tools. It includes species-wise, gear-wise and catch-per-unit-effort analysis also. Researchers and decision-makers can develop appropriate measures and indicators for fish stock assessment using FCSA.