The ribbonfishes, of the family TrichiurkJae, an Important
group of food fishes in India, registered an average annual
catch of 53.475 tonnes during 1970-81. In this period, forming
4.25% of the total marine fish catch, thsy formed the 7th
exploited fish group in the order of predominance.
There are 8 known ribbonfish species in India (an identification
key to the species is given in the beginning of thearticle)
The information available on the various aspects of biology of
each of these species is summarised, which clearly indicates
that while our knowledge on the biology of Trichiurus lepturua,
Lepturecanthus savale, Eupleurogrammus nwticus and Eupleurogrammus
glossodon is considereble, we know little about
the other species.
Traditionally, the ribbonfishes are caught by boatseines,
shoreseines, bag nets and gill nets, operating from nonpowered
country crafts. But, during the last two decades, the small mechanized vessels (10-15 m long, with 15-100 hp engines)
that are operating otter trawls, too, are increasingly landing
ribbonfish. The fishery is confined to the depth-zone usually
shallower than 50 m. T. lepturus, the most widely distributed,
forms the mainstay of the ribbonfish fishery, contributing to
the bulk of the landings along almost all our coastline. Data
on spatial and seasonal variations in abundance, size and age
composition in the commercial catches and diurnal movements
and depthwise distributions of shoals of this species are
therefore reviewed.
Stock assessment studies show that, in the shelf region
from Ratnagiri on the west coast round to Gulf of Mannar on
the east, there had been an average standing stock of 67,200
tonnes of ribbonfish (mostly L Lepturus) in 1972-75, which is
about 4 times what was actually landed from the region during
the period.
It therefore follows that a doubling of the catch will not
adversely affect the stock in the region. Studies on the population
dynamics of T. lepturus from the Kakinada area during
1967-71 has shown that the fishing mortality and the exploitation
rates are low, at 0.3 and 0.17 respectively. The average
annual stock and average standing stock along the Andhra and
Tamil Nadu coasts are estimated at 85,000 and 48,000 tonnes,
respectively, for T. lepturus, against an estimated annual
average catch of 14,400 tonnes during 1967-71. It thus appears
that the stock of T. lepturus along the east coast also is likewise
underfishad,
The need for extension of fishing operations into the
Exclusive Economic Zone with larger vessels, equipped with
suitable gears like bottom and pelagic trawls, is emphasized-
Suggestions on future lines of research are given