Penaeid prawn fisheries of the northwest coast of India

The present account is based on commercial trawler operations in the Northwest coast of India between 17' and 21°N - 71° and 73% during 1978 - '85 covering an arw of approximately 25,000 km2. Penaeid prawns accounted for 8290 tonnes per year on an avcragc constituting 28% of the trawl catch. A standing stock of 13,000 t of penaeid prawns has hccn estimated from this area based on, the swept area metho? which indicates scope for increasing the fishing effort. Parapenaeopsis sblifera, Metapenaeus afinis, Solenocera crassicornis and M, monoceros were the major components. The length-weight relatiollship of the major species has been worked out. No significant difference in the mean size of the species caught over the years was noticcable. Females always predominated over males among all the species almost throughout the season. 'Ibe peak breeding period for most of the species was during August - November and March - April. However percentage of mature females was generally observed to be low in the population