Emergence of blood clam fisheries off Mumbai coast

Abstract

Blood clam (Tegillarca granosa) lives in intertidal and shallow subtidal waters preferring muddy bottoms, mainly in protected bays and estuaries, or in mangroves with silty bottoms and low salinity. In India, it forms commercial fishery in Kakinada Bay in Andhra Pradesh (Narasimham, K.A. 1969, J. Mar. Biol. Ass. India, 20: 407-417).Thane Creek is an inlet in the shoreline of the Arabian sea off Mumbai where large-scale exploitation of blood clam has emerged during the recent past.The blood clam fishery near Mahul, Trombay and Darukhana which commenced in December 2017 lasted upto March 2018. They were harvested by hand picking in shallow areas and hand dredges operated from wooden canoes 10-15 feet overall length. Nearly 8-15 Fishers from Darukhana go for handpicking the class. In Mahul and Trombay the fishermen use a canoe, rowed by one while the others conduct dredging. Each hand pickers was getting about 30 kg catch. The catch from each canoe was 100-300 kg per day. The length range of blood clam caught was between 34.5 to 52.6 mm. Hand pickers sell the clams in local markets while canoes bring catch to New Ferry Wharf where agents procure it for supplying to Goa and on demand basis to hotels in Mumbai. The price varies from ` 30-60 per kilogram. As per fisher’s opinion the fishery is not regular but once every three years they are getting good catches of blood clam.