Crustacean fisheries have great economic importance
in this country. Although fishing for
prawns, lobsters and crabs has been the traditional occupation
of the coastal fishermen in India for considerable
length of time, reliable information about them
was not available till recently. Similarly, the export
trade of prawn pulp from west coast of India to
Burma and Ceylon was as old as the rice trade of the
latter countries with India. At present, among the
prawn and shrimp producing countries of the world
India ranks second only to the United States
