"Ghol-Dara" fishery off Bedi port in the Gulf of Kutch

Abstract

Trawling done along the Saurashtra coast has shown that fishing grounds oft Dwarka near the mouth of the Gulf of Kutch compare favourably with some of the richest ones in the world (Jayaraman et al. 1959). There is a steady fishery for most of the trawl fishes in the fishing grounds throughout the year. It is significant that three of the most commercially important fishes, namely 'Dora', Polydactylus indicus (Shaw), 'Ghol, Pseudosciaena diacanthus (Lacepede) and 'Koth', Otolithoides brunneus (Day), caught along this coast support good inshore fisheries, though for a very short duration, in the Gulf of Kutch and are collectively referred to as the "Ghol-Dara fishery". The fishery lasts for about six weeks from March to May and is peculiar in that it is made up exclusively of adult fishes, which grow to large sizes (1.000 to 1,500 mm.) and are being caught by a highly selective, large-meshed gill net operated at the bottom