Commercial trawl fishery off Madras coast during 1980-'89 with acomparative account of the catch trend of shrimp and fish trawlers during 1989-91

Introduction of commercial trawling and expansion of the fishing fleet to exploit the ground fishes and prawns along the coast have resulted in considerable development of mechanised fisheries sector. The trawlers operated from Madras base comprise of four different overall length groups, 9.5-10 m, 11 m, 12 m and 13 - 14 m (the conventional 32', 36', 40' and 45') with the horsepower varying between 90 and 120. Landings increased with effort over the years, from 1,416 t in 1980 a steep rise in production to 16,342 t has occurred in 1987 and there has been a further increase to 23,953 t in 1989. The average annual fish production during 1985-'89 was 14,162 t which is almost thrice that in the period 1980-'84 (4,796t). The CPUE has doubled to 369 kg in 1987compared to earlier years and has risen steadily with a maximum of 565 kg in 1989. The highest quantity of prawns (64%) is caught in short trip shrimp trawlers from depths of 15-30 m. The commercially important fishes like threadfin breams, ribbon fishes, goatfishes, barracudas, silverbellies and whitebaits are caught in maximum quantities in short trip shrimp trawls. Seasonal abundance of the resources show that the best catches were got in the third quarter followed by fourth quarter during the period 1980-'89