Trend of gillnet fishery along the Maharashtra coast of India: A case study

In the context of increasing fuel prices in fishing operations, low impact fuel efficient (LIFE) fishing practices such as gillnetting assume significance globally for sustainable development of fisheries. Satpati, which is well known for the dominance of mechanised gillnet fishing is an important marine fishing zone of Maharashtra along the north west coast of India. Considering the relevance of fuel efficient fishing methods, the present study focuses on highlighting the importance of gillnet fishing and to document the several changes that have taken place in the fish catch composition and fishing operations in the gillnet fishery at Satpati during the last few decades. The catch data were collected by fortnightly sampling from the single-day (lobster gillnetting) and multiday (pomfret and seer fish gillnetting) gillnet fishing. Specifications of crafts were recorded in the pre-scheduled questionnaire and by physically sampling the units. The study analysed the catch composition of all the three representative units that revealed a change in the trend of species composition over the years. The contribution of pomfrets to the total marine fish landings of Satpati had reduced from 30% in 1987 to 20% in 2015. This can be mainly attributed to the usage of smaller mesh size and increase in juvenile catch of pomfret over the past few years. In this regard, results of the present study with regard to assessment of the present scenario of the mechanised gillnetter fleet at Satpati would be useful to decision makers for imposing fishing fleet restrictions.