Migratory winter bag-net fishery in coastal waters of the Hooghly estuary

Abstract

The migratory winter big-net fishery is a typical feature of the coastal waters of the Hooghly estuary, 4,000 man with about 800 bag-nets migrated from different estuarine areas and established fishing camps In different islands during 1934 85 and 1985-86. Three and a half months seasonal fishery accounted for an average estimated fish yield of 17,872 t, forming about 71% of the total fish yield from the estuary as against 29% to 33% about 15 year* ago. An average catch per unit of effort of 152 kg was about 18 to 36 times that obtained in the upper and middle stretches and about 3 times more than that 15 years ago in the lower coastal waters. Harpodon nehereus, Trichlurus spp., Psma pama, Setipinna spp. and different species of prawns dominated in the catches. The bulk of the catches are tundrlsd and exported to marketing centres. The reasons for tremendous increase in the winter migratory bag-net catches have been discussed