Fishing the marine food web along the Indian coast

The annual mean trophic level (TrL) of marine fish landings along the Indian coast consisting of 53 exploited species/groups was estimated for the period 1950-2002. The landings as well as TrL increased along the northwest (NW) and southwest (SW) coasts. However, increase in the landings was associated with decrease in mean TrL along the east coast, particularly along the southeast (SE) coast at the rate of 0.04 per decade. The increasing trend of the FIB index ceased in the last 5-10 years along three coasts. A backward-bending signature in the landings versus TrL plot for the SE coast in the last 6 years indicates fisheries-induced changes in the ecosystem owing to low productivity of the coastal waters and high density of fishing craft. The landings of most of the large predators increased along the Indian coast, but higher removals appear to have helped proliferation of their prey, the mid-level carnivores. Fishing the food web has been influenced by environmental fluctuations, advanced fishing technologies, and market-driven, deliberate fishing on low-trophic level (TL) invertebrates such as the penaeid prawns.