Appraisal of the Marine Fisheries of Maharashtra

Maharashtra with a coast line of 720 km ranks second among the maritime states of India in respect of marine fish landings. There are 153 landing centres situated in the five coastal districts namely, Thane, Greater Bombay, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg. The state, which has a continental shelf of 89,096 square kilometers, offers rich potential for marine fisheries. The areas of potential fishing grounds in 0-50 m depth and 50-200 m depth are 2.55 and 10.48 million hectares respectively. Fishing takes places almost throughout the year except during the monsoon period. Several types of boats, mechanised and nonmechanised, using different gears land their catches. The exploited marine fish landings in the state are estimated by a well-planned multi-stage startified sampling design followed by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute. Bombay duck, non-penaeid prawns, penaeid prawns, croakers, pomfrets, elasmobranchs, perches and ribbonfishes are some of the commercially important groups which form the bulk of landings. From the early sixties the marine fish landings in the state have been steadily progressing mainly owing to the increase in the mechanised fishing. This increase continued up to midseventies and thereafter the landings have more or less stabilised