Seasonal availability of commercially important fish seeds in estuaries of Kozhikode, Kerala

Abstract

Availability of fish seed for culture is one of the major constraints in expanding mariculture in India. Capture-based aquaculture (CBA) is the practice of rearing wild collected fish seeds from early life stages to adults in captivity to marketable size, employing different aquaculture techniques. It is estimated that about 20 percent of world aquaculture production comes from CBA. The availability of cultivable fish seeds in estuaries of Kozhikode district in Kerala has been surveyed and the potential wild seed grounds identified were in Kadalundi, Korapuzha and Karuvanthuruthi estuaries. The quantitative availability of fish seeds in these localities during different seasons was evaluated