Chronospatial Frequency Of Fishing Gears Used Along The Ulhas River Estuary

Different kinds of fishing gears used along the Ulhas River estuary (URE) were studied for their make and methods of operation. Most of the gears were designed indigenously to suit the availability of the amenable fishery species. The overall chronospatial pattern of frequency of gears operation was obtained using PRIMER v6 software. The use of gears was most frequent and diverse towards the lower reaches of the estuary. Late post-monsoon season was the most affluent in gear frequency. The important fishing methods used along the URE was ‘vana’ (barrier net), ‘busa’ (surface gill -net), ‘dol’ (stationary bag net) and ‘malli ’ (basin method for capturing mudskippers on mud-flats). The fishing was carried for subsistence or artisanal levels at major while commercial fishing was highly reduced in URE. The reduced mesh sizes of the ambient gears portray the size of the species sought which depicted the threatening status of overall condition of fisheries in URE and requires a special attention for its rejuvenation.Published in Proceedings of International Conference on Ecosystem Services of Wetlands-Ardrabhoomi:2016, ISBN: 978-81-923628-3-