An examination on the biological economics of inshore shore seine fishery: A case study from Dhanushkodi Island, Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Shore seining at Dhanushkodi, Tamil Nadu was an age old practice and its approach to fish, fisheries and fishers were detailed in the present study. The entire beach seining was carried out on the sea grass meadows which forms the breeding and feeding grounds of commercially important fishes and in turn showed the over dominance of juveniles in the catch. Gonadal examination itemised that, the majority of the fishes were in immature and maturing stage of ovarian development. The economic evaluation of juveniles of six important fish species reported a total economic loss of about INR 44.64 crores during 2015-16 by shore seining at Dhanushkodi. The gross revenue of fish landed per day varies from Rs 300 to Rs 15,000 and average reported being Rs. 5000/day in one unit. A total of 22 to 24 fishers involved in the activity and the profit has to be distributed accordingly.