Service provided by artificial reef off Chennai: a case study

Abstract

The fisheries service provided by an artificial reef (AR) with a pile size of 450 m3 deployed at 20 m depth off Chinnandikuppam, 20 km south of Chennai was assessed. In 16 months, the fishermen expended 3843.7 hours of hooks & line fishing in the AR ground and landed 6404 kg. The catch index was 14.2 kg/m3 and the total income was Rs. 2,74,000. Compared with the income per hour of operation of gillnet fishing in the non-AR grounds (Rs. 52.5 kg/h), the income was 36% higher from hooks & line fishing in the AR ground (Rs. 71.3 kg/h). This was possible due to aggregation of high quality fish such as the snappers, emperor and carangids in the AR. Biological investigations on three resident species in the AR show that juvenile fish colonise in the initial months after deployment, grow to a larger size and spawn in the AR, indicating the service provided by the AR for enhancement of resident fish stocks.