Unusual and unprecedented landings of oil sardine, Sardinella langiceps were noticed at Rameswaram and Pamban during January and February 1992. The estimated catch of oil sardine at Rameswaram for January- February 1992 was 4,561 t. The pair trawlers contributed 4,244 t and fish trawlers 317 t. The C/E varied from 1.5 to 8 t. At Pamban the pair trawling during the period realised 741 t

Bose, M

Jayaprakash, A A

Marichamy, R

Ramamoorthy, N

CMFRI Digital Repository

ISSN 0254-380 X HT$3RJI ICAR :4£iiG£i[Laj IEI MARINE FISHERIES INFORMATION SERVICE No. 117 JULY, AUGUST, SEPTEMBER 1992 - " • S ^ " r T ^ T f t c f ^ t ^ TECHNICAL AND f ^ R r l ! * 3 f^F»T«c^t EXTENSION SERIES feeler CTpff Tnl^rest CENTRAL MARINE FISHERIES OTjfteira" TTTOCT RESEARCH INSTITUTE ^StfSCT, *HTcT COCHIN, INDIA INDIAN COUNCIL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SEASONAL LANDINGS OP OIL SARDINE SARDINELLA LONGICEPS AT RAMESWARAM, PAMBAN AND MANDAPAM AREAS * Unusual and unprecedented landings of oil sardine, Sardinella langiceps were noticed at Ra-rneswaram and Pamban during January and Feb-ruary 1992. The resource was exploited by the pair trawlers and fish trawlers. The fishing operations started by 13th January. Initially 30-40 pairs were In operation per day. But once the fishermen found out that there was good demand for the fish and that the merchants and agents were regularly coming with ice and lorries all the way from Kerala for transporting and marketing, the number of pair trawlers Increased. Conse-quently the fish trawling operations of 42-110 units in January got reduced to 25-75 units in February. The estimated catch of oil sardine at Rameswaram for January- February 1992 was 4,561 t. The pair trawlers contributed 4,244 t and fish trawlers 317 t. The C/E varied from 1.5 to 8 t. At Pamban the pair trawling during the period realised 741 t. It may be stated that the pair trawling on an experimental scale was Initiated in this area in 1980-81 under the BOBP to develop the small scale fisheries sector (Gopalakrishna Pillai & Sathiadas, 1982, MF1S, 29). Though, initially the response was poor, later it attracted the interest of the fishermen due to the quality and quantity of the fishes such as lesser sardines, silverbel-lies, pomfrets, etc. Now every year pair trawlers are operated, the season starting by last week of December and extending upto first week of April. Craft and gear The mechanised units 9.14-9.75 m OAL (45-70 HP diesal engines) conduct the operation. The normal trawling speed while fishing is 2.5 knots. But for fishing oil sardine the speed is kept at 3.5 knots. The design of the twin boat high speed bottom trawl is in the form of a conical bag consisting of a wing of 15.4 m, overhang 3 m, belly 23 m, throat 5 m and cod end 7.5 m with an overall head rope length of 33 m. There are slight variations in the specifications depending on the power of the engines of the boats. The cod end mesh size is 25 mm. The fish trawl has • Prepared by R. Marlchamy, A. A. Jayaprakash, N. Ramamoorthy Camp - 623 520. a wing of 15 m, belly 17 m, throat 3 m and cod end 8 m with an overall rope length of 22 m. The cod end mesh size is 25 - 30 mm. They are operated by single units at a speed of 2.5 - 3.0 knots per hour. Area of operation The area of operation is north and north east off Rameswaram, 15- 20 km from shore. The depth of the fishing ground varies from 12-16 m and the bottom is muddy. They start from shore by 0400 hrs and return by 1130 hrs onwards and continue upto 1900 hrs. One to two hauls are made. The earlier they reach the shore better were their returns, as towards late evening the price goes down. Fishery Pair trawl - day fishing: The fishing activity started by 13th January 1992. The catch of oil sardine in the pair trawlers at Rameswaram amounted to 1,635.8 t during January 1992 at a C/E of 2.084 kg and 2,618 t at a C/E of 1.192 kg in February 1992. Last year (1991) the oil sardine catch by pair trawlers during February-March '91 was 469 t at a C/E of 1,130 kg. (Table 1, Figures 1, 2,3, 4). At Pamban the pair trawling realised 203 t and 538 t during January and February 1992 forming 89.3% and 74.8% respec-tively. Last year no catch was observed. Fish trawl - day fishing : At Rameswaram 40-110 fish trawlers were in operation dally during January 1992. Their number decreased in February as most of them went for pair trawling. Oil sardine formed 271 t and 45.7 t contributing to 29.6% and 4.1% of the total fish catch of the gear during January and February 1992 respectively (Table 2). Other fishes occurring in the pair trawlers were lesser sardines, Dussumieria acuta, Tachysurus caelatus, Htmantura bleekeri, etc. In the fish trawls silverbellies and lesser sardines dominated. In addition occasional bumper catch of T. caelatus, Alepes kalla and H. bleekeri have been recorded. nd M. Bose, Mandapam Regional Centre of CMFRI, Mandapam TABLE 1. Estimated catch (kg), effort and C/E (kg) of OH sardine Day Fishing Jan. 1992 Feb. 1992 Total Feb.-Mar. Units E 780 2,196 2,976 1991 415 Rameswaram - Pair trawling Total fish C (kg) C (kg) 2.035,790 1,625,855 3,895,002 2,618,090 5,930,792 4,243,945 727.120 469,050 Oil sardine C/E 2084 1192 1426 1130 % 79.9 67.2 71.6 64.5 Units E 98, 250 348 285 Pamban - Pair trawling Total fish C(kg) 227.930 718.750 946,680 557,175 C (kg) 203,430 537,500 740,930 -Oil sardine C/E 2,075 2,150 2,129 -% 89.3 74.8 78.3 -TABLE 2. Catch (kg), effort (units) and C/E (kg) of OH. sardine by fish trawlers at Rameswaram. Month Jan. 1992 Feb. 1992 Total Units E 1045 557 1602 Total fish C(kg) 915,944 1,107,820 2,023,764 Oil sardine C (kg) 271,488 45,655 317,143 C/E (kg) % 259.7 29.6 81.9 4.1 197.9 15.7 Shrimp trawl- night fishing : In the shrimp trawlers at Rameswaram oil sardine formed 147 t at a C/E of 5.8 kg during October to December 1991, contributing to 2.8% of the total fish catch. Last year for the period the catch amounted to 75.3 t at a C/E of 4.9 kg (Table 3). At Pamban the shrimp trawler catch of oil sardine for October-December 1991 was 22 t which was 10 t less compared to previous year. Shore seines : The Shore seines are operated every year in the Gulf of Mannar side TABLE 3. Estimated catch (kg), effort and C/E (kg) of 00. sardine Night fishing Oct. 1991 Nov. 1991 Dec. 1991 Total Oct-Dec. 1990 Units E 8,050 8,814 8,615 25,479 15,179 Rameswaram -Total fish C(kg) 1,600,736 1,815,272 1,705,629 5,121,637 3,255,192 Shrimp trawling Oil sardine C(kg) 7,418 39,990 100,032 147,440 75,276 C/E (kg) 0.9 4.5 11.6 5.8 4.9 % 0.5 2.2 5.9 2.8 2.3 Pamban - Shrimp trawling Units E 1,176 1,200 1,644 4.020 3.915 Total fish C(kg) 208,196 307,520 383,482 899,198 -Oil sardine C (kg) 2,100 8,550 11,375 22,025 32,349 C/E (kg) 1.8 7.1 6.9 5.5 8.3 % 1.0 2.8 3.0 2.4 -TABLE 4. Size composition of Oil sardine Rameswaram - Pair trawlers • Month Jan. 1992 Feb. 1992 Pamban -Jan. 1992 Feb. 1992 Size group (mm) 120 - 190 130 - 185 Pair trawling 120 - 189 120 - 193 Day fishing Dominant modes (mm) 130, 145, 170, 145, 170 170 130, 175 Rameswaram - Shrimp trawlers - Night fishing Oct. 1991 165 - 190 175 Nov. 1991 105 - 190 120, 170, 180 Dec. 1991 125 - 185 135, 175 at Mandapam during October-November to March-April. 668 t of oil sardine was landed at a C/ E of 3,358 kg for the period December 1990 to April 1991. Size composition In the pair trawlers the size ranged from 123-194 mm with modes at 130, 145 and 170 mm, whereas in the shrimp trawlers the size ranged from 105 to 191 mm with modes at 120, 135 and 175 mm. The fishery in general was supported by 165-175 mm size groups. Sez ratio and maturity The oil sardines landed by the shrimp trawlers (night fishing) was almost in a spoiled 10 Fig. 1. A pair trawl unit with deckful of oil sardine. Fig. 2. Transportation of the catch in cycle cart to the packing site. condition. Examination showed that they were in spent condition during October to December. Females dominated. Females dominated during January and males during February. All specimens were in the resting stage. Food and feeding Studies during January and February revealed that the stomachs of all the specimens Fig. 3. Catch before packing with ice. were empty. Most of them were lean with the head remaining more prominent than the body showing a starved appearance. Catch disposal In the early afternoon the catch in general fetches good price ranging from Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 6,000 per t. By late evening the price goes down to Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 2,000 per t. The catch is auctioned. They are accurately weighed in large baskets of 50-60 kg and transported by cycle cart to the nearby packing site. Daity 30-40 lorries and vans come from Kerala. They bring ice also with them as there may sometimes be shortage of ice. The catch is taken to markets is Kerala such as Quilon, Kottayam, Mavelikkara, Pun-aloor, Thevally, etc. A detailed report on the monthly catch, seasonal pattern and biological characteristics covering all the gears In operation In this area and the migratory pattern correlating with the envi-ronment is under preparation. 11 

Seasonal landings of oil sardine, Sardinella longiceps at Rameswaram, Pamban and Mandapam areas

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Seasonal landings of oil sardine, Sardinella longiceps at Rameswaram, Pamban and Mandapam areas

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