Multidimensional analysis of marine fishery resources of Maharashtra, India

The performance of 18 marine fishery resources of the state of Maharashtra in the western region of India was studied using modified and validated RAPFISH methodology (RAPFISH-India), with 45 identified attributes distributed among five evaluation fields: ecology, economic, social, technology and management. The technique relies upon ordination of scored attributes using multi-dimensional scaling. An interdisciplinary approach was carried by analyzing fisheries within each discipline by using all the attributes. Leverage analysis is used to determine the influence of attributes on the ordination. Group wise fishery sustainability scores of all five dimensions were averaged and results indicate that about 60% of fisheries studied fall under 'Quite Sustainable' category. The low leverage values indicate the multivariate nature of the ordinations and that the results are not dominated by any one attribute. Fishery specific and dimension specific RAPFISH results are to be considered as very important and shall form the basis for developing fisheries management plans in Maharashtra state.