Study on the fluctuations in the occurrence of the major tuna live-bait fishes of Minicoy

Minicoy, the southernmost island of the Laccadive Archipelago, is the most important tuna fishing centre in the Indian Union. The fishing industry of the island with special reference to the tuna fishery has been comprehensively desc?ibed by Jones and Kumaran (1959). The entire fishery is a pole and line one for the oceanic skipjack Katsuwonus pelamis (Linnaeus) mainly and the yellowfin tuna Neothunnus macropterus (Temminck & Schlegel), using live-bait fishes. The tuna livebait fishery of Minicoy has been dealt with in detail by Jones (1958). Appreciable fluctuations have been noticed in the catches in the island from year to year. Even though large shoals may be available for capture in the vicinity of the island, t k gmiktbility of the right kind of bait fishes in sufficient quantities throughout the fishing season, may be a factof influencing the catches of a particular year. About forty species of fishes are used by the fishermen of Minicoy as tuna live-bait. Of these only ten species show regularity in their occurrence, the rest being specimens entering the nets during fishing. The present study reports on the relative abundance of the major species of live-bait fishes of Minicoy