The Indian oil sardine, Sardinella longiceps Val, supports a neritic
pelagic fishery contributing 2 to 33 % of the annual marine fish
production in India. Though distributed all along the Indian coast
the species sustains a commercial fishery of high magnitude along
the coasts of Kerala, Karnataka , Goa and southern part oJ
Maharashtra. During the last fifty years the annual all India production
oscillated between 14.000 t in 1952 to 3 lakh t during 1968.
Presently the west coast indicates a declining trend compared to an
ascending pattern along the east coasl. The production from east
coast surpassed that of the west coast contributing 52% of the all
India production of 2.03 lakh t in 1998. The fishery along the west
coast is known for its fiuctuating nature. Further, the species
indicates a cyclic pattern of abundance. A variety of traditional gears
were engaged in exploiting the resource till the introduction of
modern and sophisticated gear like the purse seines in the late
seventies and the ring seines in the late eighties. In fact oil sardine
is one among the few species that have ever remained a subject
matter of intensive research. The focus of this compilation is to
present a comprehensive picture of the Indian oil sardine, its fishery,
biology, stock, future prospects of exploitation and management
measures needed for yield optimisation
