The Present status of our knowledge on the lesser sardines of Indian waters

The results of research carried out at Waltair, Mandapam. Tuticorin and Vizhinjam and another centres on the lesser sardines over the past up till 1978 are reviewed in detail. In the twentyyear period from 1958 to 1978 there was an increasing trend of production of these fishes along the different coasts of India, the average annual landings nearly doubling from 36,000 t in 1958-67 to 70,000 t in 1968-78. The bulk of the catches came from Tamil Nadu, including Pondicherry, (32.6%), Kerala (32.2%) and Andhra Pradesh (26.5%)- Fishing was mostly by the labour-intensive traditional methods in close-shore waters, better catches coming from 30-55 m depths. Shore seines, boat seines and gill nets were the principal gears employed in the fishery though gill nets were the most effective