A preliminary account of the fisheries of Vizhinjam

As a part of the research programme of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Station, it was decided in 1948 to conduct a survey of the Indian coastline to estimate the marine fish landing s,and to find out the types of fish stocks available. As very little work (Bal and Banerji, 1951) has been done in the past regarding the fishery resources of our country, a preliminary survey was found essential before embarking on the final programme. With this in view, the author conducted a preliminary survey in 1949 to ascertain the number of fishing villages, boats, nets and fishermen along the coastal strip extending from Cape Comorin in the south to Ponnani River in Malabar District in the north. Based on the data thus collected, the final design to estimate the landings was made. Initially five observation centres, Blangad in South Malabar, Narakkal and Malippuram in Trichur District, Wadi in Quilon District, and Vizhingam in Trivandrum District, of the erstwhile Travancore-Cochin State, were selected. Regular observations were taken at these centres in 1950. From 1951 onwards observations were restricted to two centres, Narakkal and Vizhingam, and from January 1953 to August 1954 observations were confined to Vizhingam alone. From September 1954 onwards two more centres. Cape Comorin and Wadi, were also included for the estimation of fish landings. As Vizhingam is a very important fishing centre, and as data for five consecutive years were available it was decided to embody the observations in the present paper as suggested by Dr. N. K. Panikkar, the then Chief Research Officer, Central Marine Fisheries Research Station, Mandapam Camp