Emerging light and hand jigging fishery for cephalopods along Ratnagiri coast, Maharashtra

Abstract

Cephalopods have emerged as one of the prime foreign exchange earners in India. Trawl nets operating up to 100 m depth account for nearly 85% of the cephalopod landings and use of high opening bottom trawl nets resulted in rapid increase in production. Other gears that exploit cephalopods as bycatch are boat seines, purse seines and dol nets. Jigging, a specialised fishing method developed for cephalopods in Japan, has slowly emerged in India too. Cephalopod jigging by hand has been reported along various places such as Vizhinjam, Kanyakumari, Palk Bay coast, Tuticorin, Karnataka, Devipattinam and Keelakarai in the Gulf of Mannar. The present report of squid jigging off Ratnagiri appears to be the first report from the state of Maharashtr