New grounds for deep sea prawn explored off Tuticorin

Abstract

Trawling has received major attention in the last decade due to the increasing demand for prawns by the export industry. Eventhough the catches of prawn contribute less than 13% of the annual average trawl catch, they realise better return upto 75%. In view of this, trawl fishery has become largely dependant on the availabil ity of prawns. In random sampling the size distribution of the prawn in the catch were recorded between 50 and 105 mm with a dominant size at 85 mm weighing 4.2 g. In order to get better prawn catch, fishermen tend to search out new fishing grounds as and when the abundance of prawn declined in the regular fishing ground.