Comparative catching efficiency of traditional prawn fishing gears in Pulicat lake of Tamil Nadu, India

303-310Prawn fishery in Pulicat Lake has a significant role in livelihood of the fishers, which is being harvested through different fishing gears. Here, we investigated the prawn-fishing gear and their catch composition. The information on various aspect about the gears was collected from the 48 respondents each month through pre-designed interview schedule by adopting random sampling. Results revealed that the quantity of prawn were higher in stake net (209.83 kg), followed by barriers (118.58 kg), drive-in-net (55.58 kg) tangle net (18.25 kg) and was statically significant at 5 %. It was estimated that more than half (52.16 %) of the total prawn catch in Pulicat Lake was obtained through stake net than the barriers (29.48 %), drive-in-net (13.82 %) and tangle net (4.54 %). The maximum quantity of prawn was obtained during the November and December in all the prawn-fishing gear (p < 0.05). This study concludes that non-selective fishing gears resulted in the abundant catch of juvenile fishes and crabs, need to be regulated mesh size, to support the conservation and sustainable harvest of the fishery resources in Pulicat Lake