Fishery and resource of green mussel, Perna viridis along the west coast of India

Abstract

The green mussel, Pema viridis, constitutes a sustenance fishery in India, particularly along the Malabar Coast. The paper deals with the distribution, extent of mussel beds, exploited resources, total stock and the man power employed in the fishery along the Kerala coast from Calicut to Cannanors and Karnataka coast from Bhatkal to Majali. In the Callcut-Cannanore area fishery Is from August to June and the catch is estimated at 3043 t, 3074 t and 2596 t during 1981-82, 1S82-83 and 1983'84, respectively. The mussels tanged in length from 20-129 mm. The total man power employed Is assessed as 685 in the Callcut-Cannanore area, of which 325 are traditional full time mussel divers and the rest are part time mussel divers, The seed resources varied from 4.57 to 6.52 kg/m- In December 1983 and the size of the seeds ranged from 10-40 mm. There is no regular commercial fishery in the Bhatkal-Majall area. The paper also deals with the constraints and prospects for development of the mussel fishery.