On the oil sardine fishery of the Calicut area during the years 1955-56 to 1958-59

Abstract

There were record catches of the oil sardine (Sardinella longiceps Val.) on the West Coast during the year 1957-58; the 1955-56 season had been poor while in 1956-57 the landings were moderate. The total landings in India from October 1957 to September 1958 amounted to about 238,631 metric tons (vide Quarterly Reports of the C.M.F.R. Institute), which represented the highest reported yield after the 1933-34 season. During 1957-58 was also witnessed an extension of the area of commercial abundance of the fish inasmuch as very good catches were reported even from centres outside the normal sardine zone. The 1958-59 season was however not as successful, and in Calicut was productive, but short. This paper deals with the fishery of the 1955-56 to 1958-59 seasons in the Calicut area, with special reference to catch, effort, surface salinity and temperature of sea-water and size- and age-composition of the landings.