Saurashtra coast is situated in the Southwestern

part of Gujarat which covers the coastal districts

of Porbandar, Junagadh, Rajkot, Dwarka,

Bhavanagar, Jamnagar, Amreli, and newly formed

Gir somnath. From 1967 to till date there was

marked improvement in the fisheries sector of this

region. In 1967, trawling was introduced and since

then the number of trawlers has increased from 900

to 10,000 (CMFRI, 1978) along the coast

Dash, Swatipriyanka Sen

Dhokia, H K

Koya, Mohammed

Polara, J P

Savaria, Y D

CMFRI Digital Repository

Mar. Fish. Infor. Serv., T & E Ser., No. 220, 20148Evolution in fishing crafts and gears of the Saurashtra coastPolara, J. P., Swatipriyanka Sen Dash, Gyanaranjan Dash, Savariya, Y. D., Dhokia, H. K. andMohammed Koya, K.Veraval Regional Centre of CMFRI, VeravalVeraval regional centreSaurashtra coast is situated in the Southwesternpart of Gujarat which covers the coastal districtsof Porbandar, Junagadh, Rajkot, Dwarka,Bhavanagar, Jamnagar, Amreli, and newly formedGir somnath. From 1967 to till date there wasmarked improvement in the fisheries sector of thisregion. In 1967, trawling was introduced and sincethen the number of trawlers has increased from 900to 10,000 (CMFRI, 1978) along the coast.Crafts used along Saurashtra coastTrawlersTrawlers made up of wood are locally known as“halvalii” boat having OAL of 12-16 m with enginesof 88-118 hp using nets with a cod mesh size 15-40mm. Most of the trawlers go for multiday fishing upto 15 days operating along the coast at a depth rangeof 20-150 m. In 1980s the depth of operation was20-60 m (Rao and Kasim, 1985). The fishing vesselsare operated both northward up to Okha, sometimesin the areas of Kachh and southward off Veravalextending its ground up to Karnataka and Goa. Theseason of operation starts in September after the45 days ban from June to August. The cost of atrawler is 25- 30 lakhs.GillnettersOBM (Hodi)The FRP boats of OAL 8-11 m locally known as“hodi” are operated at a depth of 10-50 m alongthe coast. They are equipped with outboard motorengines. Each boat carries two engines when theygo for long trip fishing as a safety measure. Theyoperate in Veraval, northward off Veraval towardsMangrol and Porbandar and southward towardsas bait by fishermen of this region for hook and linefishing of sharks and tuna.The species is characterized by slender body withan extremely long, thin beak. The head is alsoslender at the apex of the melon. The dorsal finslightly falcate and triangular in shape. The tailstock is deepened, with an elongated post-anal keelof connective tissue. The species generally havetripartite color patterns. The dorsal area is darkgray, side is light gray and underside is white. Thereis a dark band runs from the dark eye to the flipper,bordered above by a thin, light line. The totalnumbers of teeth on upper and lower jaw are 42-45respectively.The species is listed in Appendix II of CITES(Convention on Interventional Trade in EndangeredView of jaw teeth pattern of Long-snouted Spinner DolphinSpeceis of Wild Flora and Fauna) and CMS(Convention on Migratory Species).Mar. Fish. Infor. Serv., T & E Ser., No. 220, 2014 9Nawabandar and Rajpara. The duration of operationis for 3 days.Mechanised gillnetterMechanized gillnetters made up of fibre locallyknown as “Bethadi” started operation along thecoast in 2008. They exclusively use gillnets (jadajal) targeting tuna and seer fish. At present thereare about 150 mechanized gill netters in operationin the region and some trawlers have converted intogillnetters due to less catches in trawls. The depthof operation varies from 150-200 m and duration ofvoyage is 7 days.DolnettersThe dolnetters locally known as “vahan” are ofOAL 12-14 m with engine power 85-110 hp. Theseboats have winch and cold storage facility. The depthof operation varies from 10-60 m. The duration ofvoyage is 4-8 days. The engine power was used forsearching the fishing ground in earlier days but nowa days is also used for shooting, piling and hauling.Time line for the crafts and gearsTrawl netTrawl nets are locally known as “Oza”. Along theSaurashtra coast, trawl fishing first started in 1965which was for single day operations. Slowly longertrip trawling for three days started in 1975 and 11days in 2011 due to increase in storage capacity ofthe boats. The percentage of long trip fishingincreased in 1980 onwards and in the presentsituation 90% of the trawl fishing extends up to 15days. The target fishing by trawls was started in2005 mainly for threadfin breams. Recently thetrawlers are targeting ribbon fish and squid due toits increased demand in export market. About 10to 15 trawl nets are carried by the trawlers in eachvoyage. Along with it they also keep gillnets andhook and line and operate it as and when requireddepending upon the species availability. The cod-end mesh size for catching ribbon fishes is 40-50mm with a top of 2000 to 3000 mm while trawl netfor other fish catch is having a cod end mesh size of30-35 mm and top 180- 250 mm. Single day trawlersare having trawl net of cod end size of 15-20 mmand top with 50-80 mm specifically to catch prawns.Target fishing is done for two hauling and theychange the gear immediately upon not getting thetarget fish. As shrimp catch is poorer in these daysand as it require more time and laborers for sortingthe by catch and debris, shrimp hauling is limitedto only single day trawlers.GillnetsThe use of gillnets started in 1975 which is knownas “Kandari jal”, made up of cotton and nylon wasused extensively along the coast. Slowly jada jal(big mesh gillnets) and chokla jal (small meshgillnets) were introduced in 1975 onwards anddominated in the fishery due to less catch of seerfish and black pomfret in Kandari net. Nylonmonofilament gill nets were introduced in 1976.Mavol jal (thick nylon monofilament) was introducedin 2000 in place of Jada jal. In 2009, chokla jal wasmodified into Ghaghara jal expanding its width upto 9 to 10 m. Recently, a new gillnet called “ Khatrijal” which is a modification of Chokla jal wasintroduced. The technical details of these nets hasbeen given in table 1.Prior to 1975 all the gill netters of OAL 8 m weremade up of wood. Fiber boat was introduced in 1975and gillnetters of OAL 11m was introduced in 2001.From 1995 onwards the gillnetters started long tripfishing.DolnetLocally known as “Dor” along the Saurashtracoast these bag nets are about 70-100 m long andeach boat carries 3-5 nets. The cod end mesh sizeFig. 1. A view of the fishing vessels operated along theSaurashtra coast, GujaratMar. Fish. Infor. Serv., T & E Ser., No. 220, 201410Table 1. Different types of gillnets used along the Saurashtra coast with their operational detailsName of Materials Length Mesh size Depth of Total Fishes SeasonGill nets used (mt) (mm) operation pieces caught of(each piece) (mt) carried/ operationboatKhandari Cotton + 4-5 85-90 30-50 40-60 Hilsa, Chirocentrus Postnylon thin dorab,S. guttatus, monsoonmonofilament Thryssa and otherclupeidsMavol Nylon thick 7-8 85-95 80-120 50-80 Tuna, S. guttatus, Post monsoonmonofilamnet S. commerson andSphyraena jelloJada Nylon 8-10 140-260 50-100 50-250 Sharks, Tuna, Post monsoonmultifilament Protonibeadiacanthus,Otolithoidesbiauritus,Polynemus etc.Chokla Nylon thin 4-5 55-60 10-50 25-60 Trichiurus lepturus, Throughoutmonofilament Megalaspis cordyla, yearSciaenids andRastrelligerkanagurtaPoint(monsoon) Nylon thin 7-8 100-110 20-40 30-80 Pampus chinensis Monsoonmonofilament (small size)Pankha Nylon thick 8-10 140-160 10-50 40-80 Pampus chinensis Monsoonmonofilamnet and Parastromateusniger (bigger size)Khatri Nylon thin 4-5 85-95 and 10-60 20-45 Hilsa, smaller sized Throughoutmonofilament 100-125 tuna, Mackerel, yearCatfishis 25-35 mm and top mesh size 110-240mm.  Theyalso go for long trip fishing of 4 to 8 days taking 15-25 hauls. During 1975 the length of dolnet was 40feet and it became 100 ft in 2001.The dol net mechanization started in 1966 and100% mechanization happened in 1995. Winch andpulley system started in 2001 and dolnetters startedto carry ice in 2006.Oysters improve growth of fish in an integrated aquaculture system in atropical estuaryViji, C. S., Mohamed, K. S., Kripa, V., Prema, D., Rakesh Sharma and Jenni, B.Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, KochiAquaculture generates large amounts of wastesin the form of uneaten food, faeces, and excretorymetabohts. Increased environmental concern aboutthe rapid expansion of aquaculture systems hasresulted in integrated techniques where more thanone species are cultured simultaneously, as a means

Evolution in fishing crafts and gears of the Saurashtra coast

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Evolution in fishing crafts and gears of the Saurashtra coast

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