Record Details

Collapse of sand lobster fishery in Bombay waters

CMFRI Repository

View Archive Info
 
 
Field Value
 
Relation http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/127/
 
Title Collapse of sand lobster fishery in Bombay waters
 
Creator Deshmukh, V D
 
Subject Molluscan Fisheries
 
Description The sand lobster Thenus orientalis started appearing in trawl catches at Bombay
in 1978 and reached a peak of 374.71 in 1982. During 1983-1987 period the catch
remained stable around annual average of 260.9 t and contributed 0.34% of the
total fish and 43.8% of the total lobster catch. After the second peak of 334.0 t in
1986, the catch declined rapidly to 2.2 t in 1994 and afterwards no catch was
recorded. The entire fishery that lasted for 17 years, has been described in three
phases, the developing, stabilized and declining phases. Biological investigations
revealed that this slow growing species breeds only once a year during
October-January and has low fecundity. The exploitation of spawning stock during
the breeding period led to recruitment overfishing and consequent decline in
the catches. In the absence of any stock management efforts, the removal of the
spawning stock continued in the declining phase, which has led to total collapse of
the fishery. In order to salvage this valuable resource, management option of
banning further exploitation and returning the ovigerous female back to the sea
have been suggested. Stock building process through sea-ranching of the species
should be undertaken immediately.
Introduction
The scyUarid lobsters, commonly called
sand lobsters, slipper lobsters or squat lobsters,
constitute one of the important crustacean
resources in the Indo-Pacific region.
These lobsters grow to a moderate size and
support fisheries of localised importance.
In India, only one species of sand lobster,
Thenus orientalis (Lund) occurring along
both west and east coasts, forms a resource
of commercial importance in Gujarat,
M a h a r a s h t r a and Tamil Nadu. In
Maharashtra, T. orientalis fishery gained
importance after the export of frozen rock
lobster tails since early seventies. Initially,
because of the taste and the attractive
colouration, rock lobster tails were exported
and they gained popularity in foreign
markets. The sand lobsters, however,
on account of their muddy, unattractive
colouration and small size were not appreciated.
But slowly, owing to their fine delicate
meat and the taste, the demand for
sand lobsters went on increasing.
Consquently the trawlers in Maharashtra
exploited more and more sand lobsters to
meet this unsatiable demand. The average
annual landing of lobsters in the state
during 1978-'88 period was 429 tonnes of
which nearly 29% (1241) was contributed
by the sand lobsters (Kagwade et al., 1991).
But Eifter 1986 there was a continuous decline
in the catch, and finally after 1994,
 
Publisher CMFRI/ICAR
 
Date 2001
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Identifier http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/127/1/Article_12.pdf
Deshmukh, V D (2001) Collapse of sand lobster fishery in Bombay waters. Indian Journal of Fisheries, 48 (1). pp. 71-76.