Prawn fishery of the Mangalore zone with special reference to the fishing grounds

While the biological aspects of the different commercial species of prawns in Indian waters have been dealt with (Menon, 1951, 1953, 1955; Panikkar and Menon, 1955; George, 1959 & 1961; Shaikhmahmud and Tembe, 1960 and George and George, 1964, Shariff, 1959), no information is available regarding the magnitude of the fishery and the distribution of the species in relation to the various offshore fishing grounds. In the Mangalore zone prawns constituted about 29% of the trawler catches and the present account deals with the prawn production and the catch composition in general. The catches of M.V. Tarpon, Government of India fishing vessel, are dealt with in particular, with reference to the different fishing grounds, depth range and nature of bottom. An attempt is also made to find out the distribution of the species in the different grounds. The information provided here, although of a preliminary nature, 1s nevertheless considered valuable from the point of view of the commercial exploitation of prawns