Some observations on the prawn fishery of Cochin

Abstract

The prawn fishery of Coohin area with partioular reference to monsoon seuon and the present problems relating to man;rgamant of the resource is reviewed baed on the data colleotod dur- ing 1984-88. Tho fishery ia mainly by shrimp trawlers which operate outri& the territorial waters during monmon swon when the tugat upeciw Parapenaeopsis srylrfera (Karildudi) migrata to deeper wators. Of the average annual prawn landings of 2 908 tomes recorded at Coohin Fieria Harbour nearly 50% is landed during the monsoon period, mainly (80-98%) P. swlrfera. Metapenaeus dobsoni dominater in the fishery of pmonsoon (45.0%) and post-monsoon (69.5%) pdodr when the exploi- tation is confined to coutal urltsn. Prawn cntoh by indigenous gw hu diminirhed considerably over the ym as a result of conatant shrimp trawling in the wcrtsn and destruction of young ones in the sea md backwa- ters. Adpis of the rocant catch data of those goam operating in Emakulam distriot show an average annual production of 190 knner of prawns, of which nearly 52% is caught during the monsoon pa nod. Penaeus indicus munta for the bulk of the catoh(91.3%), while M. dobsoni ruffbod a mom decline over the yean. The catch of Karikkadi in indigonous gears is rather negligible during the monsoon season. In the trawl fishroy, Conidsrable quantitiw (16.18%) of undpo-rizcd KarWd pram w caught during tho monsoon souon. Low proportion (5.18%) of pawning population wu observed in the fiery dw monsoon season in contrast to a high perwntage of the runs during pro-momn (27-45%) and port-monsoon (3262%) rwons. The offshore population of Karikkuii may not roturn to contribute to the coastal fuhery after the cerlon of monsoon. Exploitation of this resource by shrimp trawlera beyond the tonibrial waters during the monsoon season is therefore recommended. To improve the traditional fishay thas is a need for ltrict enforcement of the existing regulation preventing prawn fishing inside the 20 m depth lie by shrimp trawlcor, berider other conrsrvation measures.