The southeast coast of India bordering Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay has luxuriant growth of seagrass beds which sustain good fisheries and is a biodiversity hotspot. Many fishers living along the coast depend on these resources for their livelihood. Several species of invertebrates and vertebrates fully depend on the seagrass resources for their survival and sustenance. In this paper, the diversity of species commonly associated with the seagrass beds and their present status is presented followed by the fisheries associated with this ecosystem. The type of fishing activities including the details of crafts, gears, number of fishers involved and catch statistics are presented. The main objective of this approach is to understand how the fishing activities influence the ecosystem and fishermen. Underwater monitoring and visual observations were documented through photographs and videos. Artisanal fishing activities such as bottom set gillnet, push net, lead-fish trap net and shore seine are in detail discussed and the conservation measures which are urgently required are also presented.
The paper presents the first detailed study on systematics, otolith structure and biology of Diaphus coeruleus, from the south-eastern Arabian Sea. The closely related and co-inhabiting species D. coeruleus and D. watasei are distinguished on the basis of morphometric, meristic and otolith characters. Analysis of gut content revealed that these fishes mainly feed on deep sea squids and shrimps. Six maturation stages of gonads are identified in males (immature, quiescent, mature, ripe, spawning and spent) and five stages (immature, quiescent, mature, ripening and spawning stages) in females. Overall sex ratio deviated in favour of males (1 male: 0.2 female) and the mean fecundity was 2150 ± 353 eggs. The length-weight relationship shows an overall isometric growth in males with N = 76 and b = 3.13 and for females with N = 17 and suggests negative allometric growth (b = 1.719). Otolith length (LO) and otolith weight (WO) are positively correlated to standard body length (LS) and body weight (BW).
A total of 200 specimens of oil sardine Sardinella longiceps collected from Kochi in the southwest coast and Chennai in the southeast coast were subjected to truss analysis. A truss network was constructed by interconnecting 10 landmarks to form a total of 21 truss distance variables extracted from the landmarks. The transformed truss measurements were subjected to factor analysis which revealed that there is no separation of the stocks along southeast and southwest coasts. The marginal differences in shape and form are attributed to the ecological differences in the habitats which are evident from differences in length weight relationships and feeding intensity of the population along these two coasts.
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