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Motorization of traditional craft and its effect on the exploitation of tuna and whitebait anchovy resources

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Title Motorization of traditional craft and its effect on the
exploitation of tuna and whitebait anchovy resources
 
Creator Gopakumar, G
Sarma, P S Sadasiva
Velayudhan, A K
 
Subject Pelagic Fishes
 
Description The impact of motorization of traditional craft on two fisheries resources, viz. tunas and whitebait
anchovies, was studied. A conspicuous increase in the annual tuna catch was seen from 1984 due to the
increased effort expended by the motorized craft by using more units of drift nets, hooks and lines than
non-motorized craft. The tuna landing increased from 361 tonnes during the pre-motorization period to
1976 tonnes during the motorization period. On the contrary, the anchovy landing came down from 580
tonnes during the pre-motorization period to 386 tonnes on motorization. A decline was noticed in the effort
expended for whitebait anchovies but the catch rate did not show a steep decline which indicated that the
reduction of effort was not due to the decrease in the catch rate. The shifting over of motorized units to drift
net and hooks and lines operation seems to be the major reason for the decline in the effort of boat siene
and nelholi vala which are the main gears for whitebait anchovies.
Indian Journal of Fisheries 41 (2): 92-9, June 1994
The motorization of traditional craft was
initiated in central Kerala by 1980. It spread
to northern and southern areas by 1983 (Balan
et al. 1989). At Vizhinjam, the most important
fish landing centre in Trivandrum, the
motorization was initiated during the middle
of 1982. A substantial increase in the effort
from the motorized craft was recorded from
A 984 which resulted in an immediate increase
in the total fish catch at Vizhinjam. An account
of the traditional fishery in the area has
been given by Luther et al. (1982) and Nair et
al. (1988) and the initiation of motorization of
traditional craft in the area has been reported
by Gopakumar et al. (1986). The increase in
Present address: 'Scientist (SG), technical Officer,
Technical Assistant
the catch and catch rate of tunas and mackerel
as a result of motorization has also been
pointed out by Gopakumar and Sarma (1989)
and Gopakumar et al. (1991). The chief gears
operated by the motorized craft at Vizhinjam
are hooks and lines and drift net.
Motorization has extended the fishing areas of
traditional craft to relatively more distant
grounds and has increased the yield of certain
resources like tunas which are caught chiefly
by drift net and hooks and lines. This has
resulted in a reduction in the operation of
non-motorized units and a simultaneous
decrease in the yield of certain other resources
like whitebait anchovies which are caught by
boat seine, shore seine and netholi vala. To
analyse this aspect, the trends offish landing
with particular reference to two resources, viz.
92
 
Publisher CMFRI/ICAR
 
Date 1994
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Identifier http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/226/1/Article_09.pdf
Gopakumar, G and Sarma, P S Sadasiva and Velayudhan, A K (1994) Motorization of traditional craft and its effect on the exploitation of tuna and whitebait anchovy resources. Indian Journal of Fisheries, 41 (2). pp. 92-99.