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On the late winter and early spring migration of the Indian Shad, Hilsa ilisha

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Relation http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/1775/
 
Title On the late winter and early spring
migration of the Indian Shad, Hilsa ilisha
 
Creator Jones, S
 
Subject Pelagic Fisheries
 
Description The migration of the Indian Shad, Hilsa ilisha (Hamilton), up the major
river systems when they are in floods is well known. Some time ago, while
making observations on the biology and fishery of Hilsa in Bengal and
Orissa, a regular small-scale movement of the fish was noticed from the
lower reaches of estuaries soon after the peak of winter season, even in the
absence of floods (Jones, 1952). The observations were summarised by
the author in the following lines (Jones, 1952, p. 66). " The two periods
of migration of the fish observed during the years under study both in the
Chilka Lake and the Hooghly River were correlated with floods during the
monsoon rains and to the general rise in temperature of the water in the
estuaries after the close of winter." In the Hooghly, this ascent of the fish
takes place usually early in February and is also associated with some breeding
activity (Jones and Menon, 1951). During this time Hilsa fishing operations
are carried out in the river on a small-scale with the help of the Clapnet,
shangla-jal. In the Chilka Lake, in Orissa, a similar migration takes
place in January-February when the fish is reported to be caught in the
channel area connecting the sea and the lake (Jones and Sujansingani, 1951).
It is of interest to mention here that a similar activity has been recorded by
Kulkarni (1951) for the Hilsa in the Narbada where there is a small run
beginning in March and continuing up to the middle of April. After referring
to the early run of Hilsa in the Indus and the Irrawaddy due to floods caused
by the melting of snows,, he says that " in the Narbada, however, there is
no such possibility, as at no stage the river passes through any snow clad
mountains and there is not the slightest increase in the level of water in
March and April". In the Indus the Hilsa comes up from the sea by about
February and forms a fishery in the river from March to September (Day,,
1873 and Quereshi, 1952). In the rivers of Burma also, it is reported to
move up at the close of winter just as in Bengal (Kyaw, 1955).
 
Publisher CMFRI/ICAR
 
Date 1957
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Identifier http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/1775/1/Article_07.pdf
Jones, S (1957) On the late winter and early spring migration of the Indian Shad, Hilsa ilisha. Indian Journal of Fisheries, 4 (2). pp. 304-314.