Prawn fishery along Chennai coast in North Tamil Nadu

The annual prawn landings along Chennai during 1992-'99 vary from 1938t in 1992-'93 to a record 4477t in 1994-'95, with an average of 3235t at 5.29 kg/hr contributing to 10.1% of trawl catches. Primary fishery occurs around January- February and the secondary during July-September, with distinctly poor abundance in peak monsoon and summer months. Migratory populations support substantial fishery. M. dobsioni (664t, 20.5%), P. indicus, (491t, 15.2%), P. maxillipedo (392t, 12.1%) and M. monoceros (305t, 9.45%) are the abundant species. The magnitude of abundance of P. maxillipedo is unique. Marginally deeper species of Matapenaeopsis and Trachypenaeus, share the catches in moderate abundance and the larger P. semisulcatus (156t, 4.8%) and P. mondon (59t, 1.8%) add considerable remunerative values. Revealed by species distribution, Cauvery-Pulicat axis could be apportioned as single block for effective resource management. Peak recruitment takes place around September-October and January-February in M.dobsoni; around June-September and December-January in P. indicus and May-June and September-October in P. maxillipedo. The MSY is estimated at 3552t, which is marginally above the average catch of 3235t for 1992-99, suggesting the exploitation remains under optimum level during the years. However, fixation of catch and effort limits seems to have no relevance, as the rapid and steep annual variations of catches reveal the prawn productivity here is largely influenced by uncontrollable natural factors. In addition to this, uncertainties in the extent and intensity of distant fishing also casts perceptible fluctuations in catches