Occurrence of Indian Ruff, Psenopsis cyanea in shallow waters along Kakinada coast, an indication of upwelling

Psenopsis cyanea usually occurs in deeper waters between 250 to 300 m depth in schools. They are irregularly and west distributed off the east coasts of India and off Sacotra and the mouth of the Gulf of Aden. The normal pattern of landings and species composition along the Kakinada coast changed complete by during the period due to the sizeable contribution of deep sea species in the catch. P.cyanea appeared in large shoals along the shallow coastal waters of 5-15 m depth along with the other deep water species such as Priacanthus sp. Decapterus tabl and Upeneus sp. and were caught in large quantities by trawls and gillnets. The landing of deepwater groups lasted for about 12 days. P. cyanea and other species which usually occur in the deep cold water areas might have moved towards the shallow coastal region due to upwelling of the cold deeper water towards the surface, where they were caught by trawls and glllnets

Occurrence of spotted sardinella along north Andhra Pradesh coast

Gill nets operated off Lawsons Bay, Visakhapatnam landed an estimated 530 kg of spotted sardinella Amblygaster sirm fWalbaum) during November - December 1992. This species was not observed earlier in the sardine catches from this area. Subsequent to this observation the species was reported in the trawl catches of Kakinada during December. While the catches were very poor during January and February, March recorded an estimated 581 kg and 2331 kg of A. sirm in shrimp trawl and gill nets respectively, at Visakhaptnam. By April this species disappeared from the fishery. The meristic and morphometric details are give

Fishery and population characteristics of Indian mackerel, Rastrelliger kanagurta (Cuvier) at Kakinada

Indian mackerel, Rastrelliger kanagurta is exploited by trawls and gillnets along Kakinada coast. Its production increased from 67 t in 1988 ’99 to 3,493 t in 1997 ’98. Period of peak abundance and fishery was February-March while recruitment was high during December-January. Length weight relationship showed that females were slightly heavier than males of the same size. Growth parameters, L∞ and K were estimated as 286.3 mm and 1.89/year respectively. Natural mortality of the stock was 2.61. Total mortality varied between 4.69 and 9.29 and fishing mortality between 2.08 and 6.68. Stock varied during the period between 1,814 and 5,255 t and biomass between 268 and 902 t. Maximum sustainable yield is 2,239 t. Emax is 0.77, whereas exploitation rate varied between 0.44 and 0.72. These indicated that the resource is currently under moderate fishing pressure especially from trawls and has only marginal scope for further increase in production. Since further increase in effort by trawls would be detrimental for the resource it is recommended to reduce their effort marginally or to maintain at the present level, whereas effort by gillnets can be increased

Growth and survival of the Indian Pearl oyster (Pinctada fucata) in Kakinada Bay

Kakinada Bay which has a total spread of 146 sq.km. area has diverse moUuscan resources, especially bivalves and gastropods. Several workers have studied in detail, the molluscan resources of the Bay and their fishery characteristics. The Bay also harbuors a population of resident pearl oyster, Pinctada chemnitzii towards its eastern side near Hope Island. But Pinctada fucata is an exogenous species as far as Kakinada Bay is concerned

On the capture of a bottle nose dolphin off Kakinada

A female bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus having a total length of 245 cm was caught on 7-7-'97 by a motorised gill net unit operated off Kakinada at a depth of 30 m. The dolphin fetched a price of Rs.800/- as there was great demand for its flesh for use as bait in the hooks and line fishery for sharks and tuna

Prospects for developing culture of edible oyster, Crassostrea madrasensis and green mussel, Perna viridis along Kakinada coast, Andhra Pradesh

Around Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh the edible oyster, Crassostrea madrasensis beds are found at Kakinada Fisheries Harbour, Chollangi and Uppada. aquaculture is location specific, in order to test the viability of this technology under the conditions prevailing at Kakinada, experimental study on edible oyster culture was taken up at Kakinada. Ren culture method was adapted.The present work was carried out by giving good publicity at the Kakinada Fisheries Harbour and in the process, considerable awareness was generated among the fishermen resulting in good protection to the rens

The ribbonfish fishery and stock assessment of Trichiurus lepturus Linnaeus off Kakinada, east coast of India

Ribbonfish fishery in Kakinada is supported by six species viz., Trichiurus lepturus, T.russelli, Lepturacantltus gangeticus, L.savala. Eupleurogrammus mutirus and E.glossodon. They were exploited by trawls and gillnets throughout the year with peak during November-February. Production increased from 53 ton in sixties to 3,073 ton in nineties due to improved fishing effort and extension of fishing to distant deeper waters. Production of the main species, T. lrpturus varied between 1,759 and 4,685 ton during 1995-2000, stock from 2,172 to 7,809 ton and biomass from 408 to 2,519 ton. Maximum sustainable yield is 3,886 ton. Mainly zero year fishes supported the fishery. The species matures and spawns during the first year itself. Spawning and recruitment occur round the year with peak during November-March. Survival of spawn to present exploitation size varied between 0.004 and 0.04% during the period. The estimated fecundity was 40,250lfish or 100,628lkg body weight. Studies revealed that currently the resource is under heavy fishing pressure. Strategies for the management of stock and fishery are discussed

A note on spat settlement and growth of the pearl oyster Pinctada chemnitzii (Philippi) in Kakinada bay

Pearl oyster Pinctada chemnitzii, belonging to the family Pteriidae has been reported from Kakinada Bay. They are found in the coarse sandy-mud bottom at 0.3 to 3.0 m depth range towards eastern side of the Bay near Hope Island, attached to dead wlndowpane oyster shells. The population biomass the species in the Bay has been estimated to be 314 tonnes. Detailed study on the biology including spat settlement of the species is lacking. In the present study the spat settlement and growth of P. chemnitzii in Kakinada Bay is dealt with

Prawn seed exploitation along Kakinada coast : a preliminary appraisal with a note on the brooder exploitation of Penaeus monodon

In recent times there is a steep increase in the exploitation of prawn seed in order to cater to the needs of prawn fanners along the Andhra Pradesh coast. There is demand mostly for seed P. monodon by the prawn farmers of this state. There are no official or reliable estimates of the total extent of prawn farms in Andhra Pradesh

Biology and exploitation of Trichiurus lepturus Linnaeus from Visakhapatnam waters

Length-weight relationship, relative condition factor, growth, maturity, mortality, exploitation, fishery, food and feeding and sex ratio of Trichiurus lepturus from Visakhapatnam were studied. Length-weight relationship obtained for male and female was, male : W = 0.000273 L3245862 (r=0.9961) and female : W = 0.000223 L3298627 (r = 0.9950). Growth parameters estimated for von Bertalanffy's growth function were, LM = 106.8251 cm, K = 0.6117 per year and to = -0.1399 years. The fish attained maturity at 42.5 cm and has a longevity of 4.9 years. The total mortality and fishing mortality were estimated as 2.4170 and 1.5236 respectively. The exploitation ratio, E = 0.6304 and exploitation rate, U = 0.5741, indicated overexploited state of the stock. The seasonal abundance in major gears and the annual abundance in the small trawler landings during the decade 1982-'91 are also presented. Growth performance index, PHI1 (') for this species was calculated based on five sets of parameters given by different authors and a mean ' value was arrived at. The fish was found to be a voracious carnivore, often exhibiting cannibalism. Incidence of differential fishing noticed in this case is briefly discussed