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Composition of the diet of greater lizardfish Saurida tumbil (Bloch, 1795), caught from northern Kerala, south-west coast of India was studied and described. The stomachs of 1981 specimens were collected between January, 2012 and June, 2014. Analysis of stomach contents based on index of relative importance (IRI) revealed that this species is exclusively piscivorous. Contrary to other benthic predators of the study area, it mainly feeds on pelagic and demersal fishes (IRI = 63.2), molluscs (IRI = 17.86), crustaceans (IRI = 18.33) and other miscellaneous items (IRI = 2.54). The diet of S. tumbil were found to be related to the seasonal availability of resources, occurrence of juveniles of certain species and on the migration of fishes from nearby places to the study area. Significant changes in prey items were observed between predator length groups, but a positive, significant relationship was recorded between prey size and predator size (p<0.05). Statistical analysis indicated a uniform representation of different diets in the stomach. Maximum similarity in diet between different food items was found in April and November.

Trawl fisheries sector account more than 50% of the marine fisheries production of India. Annual average fish landing from trawlers was 17, 21, 000 t (2008-2011), which formed around 51 % of the marine fish landing of the coast. In this about 51% of the catch was contributed by the west coast and remaining by the east coast of India. Recent studies of the trawl fishery in India have shown that incidental catches/low value bycatch (LVB) landing and utilization has increased over the period of time. The present study is based on the data collected from major trawl landing centres along the coast of India during the period 2008-2011.The estimated landing of low value bycatch (LVB) in trawl fisheries, increased from 14 % in 2008 to 25 % in 2011, which is reflected as reduction in discard volume by trawlers. On an average the highest quantity of LVB landed was in Veraval (50,000 t) and in Mangalore, LVB landing increased from 3% in (3000 t) in 2008 to 26 % (12,000 t) in 2011.In Mumbai, the percentage of trash fish landed remained around 5% during the study period. In Calicut, the LVB landed in 2011 contributed 26% to the total landings by the trawl. In Kochi, Kerala the total LVB landed in 2011 was 1,992 t forming 7.2 % of the total landing. In Chennai, Tamilnadu, the LVB landing which was 13 % in 2008 increased to 17% in 2011, while in Visakhapatanam, Andhra Pradesh, LVB landing showed a steady increase from 2% in 2008 to 21% in 2011. The landing centre price for LVB showed an increasing trend due to increased demand for trash fish for the production of fish meal and fertilizer. The dominance of finfishes in LVB found to increase the value of LVB and the value realized for 30,000 t of LVB in Mangalore in 2011 ( Rs.280 million) was more than that realized for 50,000 t of LVB in Veraval (Rs.200 million). A disturbing trend observed from the studies in Mangalore was that, the sardines in trash fetches higher price in some seasons (upto Rs.16/kg) compared to a lower price when landed in fresh form, and the percentage of sardines in LVB is found to be very high (24% in 2010). This trend may cause a severe threat to the protein availability to the rural poor. Looking at the trend of trawl landing during 2008-2012, it is seen that even though the trawl landing showed an increase over the period of time, the edible portion of the trawl landing did not show any significant increase rather showing general declining trend. Study on the bycatch from different centres along the coast of India showed that as many as 237 species / groups of marine fauna with juveniles of commercially important fishes were landed as LVB. Increase in utilization of LVB (which was discarded earlier) from trawl fishery, a trend which is market driven and its implication on the ecosystem and marine fisheries production of the country is discussed in this paper.

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Information on at-sea sightings of beaked wholes are rare from the Indian and Sri-Lankan waters because of the relative rarity of vessels working in deep oceans where these species are encountered. A recent survey onboard FORV 'Sagar Sampada' brought out the first confirmed sighting of live animals of Longman's beaked whole. Indopacetus pacificus from the southern Bay of Bengal. The details of the sighting, illustrated with photographs are presented in this note.