Studies on the exploratory trawl fishing and significance of selectivity in trawl fishing gear for conservation of marine fishery resources with special reference to the inshore waters off Mangalore

School of Industrial Fisheries, Cochin University of Science and Technology

Socio-Economic Issues and Sustainable Fishery Management .A Case Study of Kerala

Department of Applied Economics, Cochin University of Science and Technology.

Studies on the Biology, Ecology and Fishery of the sea cucumber Holathuria (hetriatyla) scabra (Jaeger) from southeast coast of India

The distribution of the holothurian H. KH.) scabra indicated its availability all along coastal areas on Palk Bay from Rameswavam to Mallipattinam and along the Gulf of Hannah coast from Pamban to Ervadi and Tuticmhin,'at 4~2O m depth.The major fishing for holmthurians was done by skin diving at all the centres. The tallu valai was operated at Tuticorin and Vedalai and trawlevs were operated at Rameswaram.The fmod of H. KN.) scabra consists of ovganic matter which contains mud, sand, shell debris, bivalves and algae. Obsehvatinns indicated the species seems to be a n0n—se1ective feeder. The assimilation efficiency from sediment to faeces indicated that the faecal pellets of H. KH.) scabra are semidigested.A multiple relationship was fitted between total length, total weight, gutted weight, gonad weight and maturity stages were found significant.The fishing season for holothurians commences from October to March along Gulf of Manner coast and from March to October along Palk Bay coast.The percentage of catches recorded by skin diving, trawlere and tallu valai were 80.04%, 10.27% and 9.69% respectively. Skin diving contributes to maximum catch.The holothurians landed all along the Gulf of Manner and Palk Bay coasts constitute 25.6% and 74.4% respectively. This showed that Palk Bay coast is more productive.

Journal Productivity in Fishery Science - An Informetric Analysis

This thesis Entitled Journal productivity in fishery science an informetric analysis.The analyses and formulating results of the study, the format of the thesis was determined. The thesis is divided into different chapters mentioned below. Chapter 1 gives an overview on the topic of research. Introduction gives the relevance of topic, define the problem, objectives of the study, hypothesis, methods of data collection, analysis and layout of the thesis. Chapter 2 provides a detailed account of the subject Fishery science and its development. A comprehensive outline is given along with definition, scope, classification, development and sources of information.Method of study used in this research and its literature review form the content of this chapter. Chapter 4 Details of the method adopted for collecting samples for the study, data collection and organization of the data are given. The methods are based on availability of data, period and objectives of the research undertaken.The description, analyses and the results of the study are covered in this chapter.

Legal Control of Fishing Industry in Kerala

This work is a study on ‘Legal Control of Fishing Industry in Kerala.Fishery and Fishery-related legislations are sought to be examined in the light of scientific opinion and judicial decisionsThis work is divided into five Part.The thrust of time Study is on the success of legislative measures in attempting to achieve socio-economic justice for the fishermen community.Fishing is more an avocation than an industry. It is basically the avocation of the artisanal or traditional fishermen who depend on it for their livelihood. As an ‘industry’, it is a generator of employment, income and wealth.The modern tendency in national legislations is to integrate legal proivisions relating to EEZ fisheries into the general fisheries legislation.Chartered fishing was introduced by the Central Government during 1977-78 to establish the abundance and distribution of fishery resources in Indian EEZ, for transfer of technology and for related purposes.Going by the provisions of Articles 61 and 62 of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982, foreign fishing need be permitted in our EEZ area only if there is any surplus left after meeting our national requirements.Conservation of the renewable fishery resources should start with identification of the species, their habitats, feeding and breeding patterns, their classification and characteristics. Fishing patterns and their impact on different species and areas require to be examined and investigated.the Central Government, that the Kerala Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1980 was passed.our traditional fishermen that our Governments in power in Kerala resorted to the appointment of Commissions after Commissions to enquire into the problems of resource management and conservation of the resources. The implementation of the recommendations of these Commissions is the need of the times.General infrastructure has increased to a certain extent in the fishery villages; but it is more the result of the development efforts of the State rather than due to increase in earnings from fishing. Fisherwomen ar e still unable to enjoy the status and role expected of them in the society and the family.Around 120 million people around the tuorld are economically dependent on fisheries. In developing countries like India, small-scale fishers are also the primary suppliers of fish, particularly for local consumption. A most important role of the fisheries sector is as a source of domestically produced food. Fish, as a food item, is a nutrient and it has great medicinal value.Consumers in our country face a dramatic rise in fish prices as our ‘fishing industry’ is linked with lucrative markets in industrial countries. Autonomy of States should be attempted to be maintained to the extent possible with the help and co-operation of the Centre. Regional co-operation of the coastal states interse and with the Centre should be attempted to be achieved under the leadership of the Centre in matters of regional concern. At time national level, a ifisheries management policy and plan should be framed in conformity with the national economic policies and plans as also keeping pace with the local and regional needs and priorities. Any such policy, plan and legislation should strive to achieve sustainability of the resources as well as support to the subsistence sector.

Biology, population characteristics and fishery of the speckled shrimp Metapenaeus monoceros (Fabricius, 1798) along the Kerala coast

Crustaceans comprising numerous edible species of prawns, lobsters and crabs inhabiting different ecosystem form significant portion of the aquatic food resources of the world. Among the crustaceans, prawns are the most commercially exploited group and hold premier rank by virtue of their importance as an esteemed food of gourmet and on account of their high export value. Met-ape-naeus manoceras (Fabricius, 1798) which is known IS,Speckled shrimp’ (FAD name) and ‘Brown shrimp’ ( common nameused in the industry) is one of the commercially important marine penaeid prawns of India. During 1995, M. monaceros catch constituted 7.5 Z of the all India marine penaeid prawn landings. M. monoceros attains a maximum length of about 200 mm and has high export potential.Thus realising the growing importance of M. monoceros in the capture fisheries, it was felt, that it would be ideal to carry out detailed study on this species for rational exploitation and management of its fishery. Hence, the present work entitled, “Biology, population characteristics and fishery of the speckled shrimp Hetapenaeus monoceros (Fabricius, 1798) along Kerala coast“ was undertaken by the author. The thesis is laid out in seven chapters comprising TAXONOMY, FOOD AND FEEDING HABITS, AGE AND GROWTH, REPRODUCTION,LENGTH-WEIGHT RELATIONSHIP, FISHERY and POPULATION DYNAMICS

Studies on the systematics, biology and fishery of rainbow sardines, dussumieria spp., from Indian waters

Rainbow sardines of the genus belonging to the family Dueenaieriidae. are small pelagic fishes forming a fairly good, though not abundant. seasonal fishery all along the coasts of India inhabiting the coastal waters. There have been some earlier reports on such individual aspects as their systematic, distribution, abundance. Ostecology and a few biological factors but no attempt has been made towards a comprehensive study on this group. Two species of rainbow sardines are known to occur in the Indian seas and while a knowledge about their biology would be useful from the fishery point of view. it was also thought a study of their systematic position, especially regarding the identity or the two species which had raised doubts among earlier workers would lead to a better understanding or the group as a whole. This thesis is mainly based on studies during the period from April 1969 to march 1971 with a continued investigation of fishhery aspects till December 1975. from the Gulf of manar: and the Palk Bay around mandapam area. on the south-east coast of India. Thus the work deals with the systemtics, biology and fishery of rainbow sardines of Indian seas.

Studies on coagulase-positive staphylococci and Vibrio parahaemollticus in selected items of fish, crustaceans and fishery products

In India much work has been done on different aspects of quality of processed fish and fishery products (Pillai et al., 1965; Iyer and Chaudhuri, 1966; Iyer et al., 1966; Sreenivasan and Joseph, 1966; Pillai and Rao, 1969; Mathen et al., 1975; Valsan et al., 1985) and standards have been formulated for almost all the fishery products. Quality standards for fresh fish cover only a few fish species available in the markets. For the formulation and recommendation of quality standards for fish and fishery products for domestic trade detailed background informations are necessary. Khot et al., (1982), Valsan et al. J (1985) and Iyer et al. (1986) have reported on the bacterial flora of sea foods at retail level in Bombay. Cochin is a major fish landing centre of the south west coast of India, and an average of 25,000. tonnes of fish/shell fish are landed annually at this harbour which is about 10 percent of the total catch of fish in Kerala (Lakshmanan -et -al., 1984). All the varieties of marine, brackish water and fresh water fishes are available in Cochln throughout the year for catering to Its cosmopolitan. population and informations regarding their bacteriological quality are scanty. Hence the present study was undertaken to investigate the bacteriological quality of fish and fishery products available in the markets and cold storages situated in and around Cochin meant for internal consumption.

Development of a portable composite equipment for coastal fishery and hydrographic investigations

This thesis reports on the details of the works done to develop a complete system for acquisition of the important marine environmental parameters namely, current, current direction, salinity, temperature and depth. It encompaéps transducers,signalconditioners display arrangements and remote controlled multiplexer which constitue the system. The various associate instruentation and environmental requisites and problems have been discussed and solved to considerable extend. The design and development features of this composite system includes an integrated approach in order to make the final equipment to be simple, inexpensive and easy for operation from small and large boats. This could be achieved with the successful development of all required components with features matching between them, such as sensors, signals conditioners remote operated multiplexers, comon display methods, quick performance check and calibration methods. The major success rests on the development of sensors with excellent performance characteristics suitable for marine environment. out of the 5 sensors. that of current salinity and depth are quite noval types with specific advantages. The environmental effects have been eliminated to the required extend. The common signal conditioner for salinity, temperature and depth has noval design features for achieving simplicity, reliability and accomodating the three sensors of different functional requirements.

Hydrometeorological Studies of Kerala state in relation to the Western Ghats

Study of Kerala State in relation to the western Ghats, using The present thesis envisages a hydrometeorological various statistical techniques and the water balance concepts first developed by Thornthwaite. The first chapter of the thesis gives general introduction where the purpose and scope of the study have been given. Chapter II discusses the importance of hydrometeorological studies in general and of water balance in particular, in planning for the overall development of any region. Chapter III consists of the presentation of various geographical features of Kerala. An introduction to the physiography of the western Ghats and detailed hydroclimatic studies of the Western Ghats region which includes analysis of rainfall and the study of water balance elements form Chapter IV. In Chapter V, a detailed hydrometeorological study of Kerala State is made. Discussion of the results of the study and suggestions for optimum utilization of the available water resources for the overall development of the western Ghats region in general and Kerala in particular are made in Chapter VI.

"|mpact of trawling on sea bottom and its living communities along the inshore waters of southwest coast of India'’

Mechanized fishing started in Indian waters in mid —fifties and large-scale operation of trawl fishing began in the mid sixties by the surfeit of individual entrepreneurs. The southwest coast of India especially the coastal waters of Kerala are the most productive area in the subcontinent and the state has been in the forefront in marine fish production (Kurup, 2001a). Though the coastline of Kerala is one tenth of the coastline of India, the state occupies the foremost position in the marine fish production of the country, accounting for more than 30% of the marine fish landings (Thomas, 2000). The coastal waters of Kerala have rich and diversified fishery resources, which are prone to heavy exploitation by a unprecedently high number of fishing gears, among them, mechanized bottom trawlers with a numerical strength of 4550 (Kurup, 2001a) against the permissible number of 1145 (Kalawar, et al., 1985) are the most destructive. Trawling operations during monsoon periods in Kerala has been a subject of controversy between traditional fishermen and trawl fishers on a subject that trawl fishing destroys large amount of juveniles and young ones of fishes since this period is the major breeding season of most of the fish and prawns (John, 1996). Therefore Government of Kerala imposed a ban on bottom trawling activities from 1988 onwards for a period varying from 21-70 days, which usually commences from June 15th. Though many studies revealed that large amount of non-target groups were destroyed in the commercial trawl fishing in the Indian waters, no concerted study has been conducted so far to evaluate the real impact of bottom trawling on the sea bottom and its living communities. The present study was conducted to assess the impact of excessive bottom trawling exerted on the sea bottom habitat and its living communities, which would be useful in impressing up on the seriousness of habitat degradation and biotic devastation, enabling the concerned to adopt relevant conservation and management steps to conserve the resources for sustainable exploitation

Effect Of Raw Material Quality On The Shelf Life Of Frozen Stored Fish And Fishery Products

Frozen storage characteristics and shelflife vary considerably among species as well as within the species (Powrie, 1973; Fennema. 1973). This can be attributed to the variation in the composition of fish among various species. In certain species like sardines and mackerel. wide seasonal variation in chemical composition occur within the species. These variations affect the quality and shelflife. The nutritional level of water. spawning, method of catching, struggling etc. are found to have profound influence on the condition of the fresh fish. Soon after death the deteriorative changes in fish start due to autolysis and bacterial growth. The rate of these changes depends mainly on temperature. The handling methods have great influence on bacterial contamination. Thus the type oi'handling. temperature control. period of chill storage. processing methods. type of freezing, condition of frozen storage and period of storage affect the quality and shelflife Of the fisho In the present study extensive investigations were carried out on various factors affecting the quality of fish as well as their effect on the physical. chemical and sensory qualities of fish during frozen storage and the shelflife

Studies on the ecophysiology of periphytic algae in cochin estuary

The estuaries are highly productive ecosystems and characteristically are more productive than the adjacent river or sea. Estuarine producers which include planktonic algae, periphyton, herpobenthos as well as macrophytes are capable of nearly year round photosynthesis. Productivity of an environment is mainly the contribution of various groups of autotrophic flora. Any quantitative estimation excluding any one of these would be an underestimation. Periphyton plays a very important role in the productivity of estuarine and coastal waters. It has been reported that periphytic algae attain high biomass (Moss, 1968; Hansson, 1988a) and may contribute up to 80% of the primary production (Persson gt gtt, 1977); Considerable amount of work has been done on the productivity in Cochin backwaters by different investigators (Qasim, 1973, 1979; Nair gt gtt, 1975; Gopi— nathan gt gtt, 1984). All of them have estimated the primary production based only on phytoplankton of the estuary. Considering the contribution of other autotrophic components of the estuary such as periphyton (haptobenthos), sediment flora (herpebenthos) and macropytes, the productivity estimated by earlier authors were essentially underestimations. The present work is an attempt inter glig to assess the contribution of periphytic flora towards the total organic production in the estuary

‘Studies on the fishery and culture prospects of mud crabs (Genus Scylla de Haan) along the Kerala coast

Kerala has been one of the leading maritime states in India for the exploitation and export of mud crabs (Raj, 1992). Many brackishwater systems like the Ashtamudi lake, Vembanad lake, Cochin backwaters and Korapuzha estuary are well known for their rich population of mud crabs. Realizing the imperative need to build up a strong scientific base for proper management and conservation of the resource and also to develop proper technologiesfor seed production and farming of mud crabs, a detailed study was undertaken on the mud crabs of Kerala coast and the results are described in the thesis. The thesis is presented in four chapters

“Population Characteristics, Fishery and Post larval distribution of Macrobrachium rosenbergii (de Man) and M. idella (Hilgendorf) of Vembanad lake”

Macrobrachium rosenbergii (de Man) and M.ide77a (Hilgendorf) form two commercially important Palaemonid prawns of the Vembanad lake (9 28' and 10 10’ N and 76 13' and 76 31' E). Both of them were known to have contributed to a very lucrative fishery during the sixties, however, in recent years these natural resources have badly depleted owing to the impact of many man made alterations brought about in the ecosystem such as habitat reduction, physical obstruction imposed in the migratory pathway of these species, pollution hazards, etc,. Changed environmental conditions and increased fishing pressures caused persistent alterations in the stock size of these prawns during the past so many years, however, no serious attempt was made to monitor the stock size from time to time and also to bring out the resource characteristics. Though, the morphotypic differentiation in grow out male population of M.rosenbergii has been documented, no similar studies were conducted with regard to natural male and female population. Based on the data collected during fishery cruise surveys conducted in Vembanad lake from March '94 to February '96, population characteristics. postlarval distribution, fishery and population dynamics of M.rosenbergii and M.ide77a of the lake were studied in detail.