The results of research carried out at Waltair, Mandapam.
Tuticorin and Vizhinjam and another centres on the lesser sardines
over the past up till 1978 are reviewed in detail. In the twentyyear
period from 1958 to 1978 there was an increasing trend of
production of these fishes along the different coasts of India,
the average annual landings nearly doubling from 36,000 t in
1958-67 to 70,000 t in 1968-78. The bulk of the catches came
from Tamil Nadu, including Pondicherry, (32.6%), Kerala
(32.2%) and Andhra Pradesh (26.5%)- Fishing was mostly by
the labour-intensive traditional methods in close-shore waters,
better catches coming from 30-55 m depths. Shore seines, boat
seines and gill nets were the principal gears employed in the
fishery though gill nets were the most effective
