Exploratory trawling on the continental shelf along the north-western part of the Bay of Bengal

The results of exploratory trawl'ng undertaken from 1961 to 1965 on the continental shelf along the north-western part of the Bay of Bengal, between latitudes 16''40'N and 2rOO'N are presented. The composition of the catch, the distribution of the various categories of fishes and their relative abundance in space and time are indicated. It is estimated that in commercial fishing, with Visakhapatnam as the base, a 25 m side-trawler with 15 m trawl should be able to land 250-390 metric tons of fishes, a 14 m stern-trawler with 14m trawl, 67-174 metric tons, and a 13-7 m stern-trawler with 12 m trawl, 56-94 metric tons per year from the area