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Abstract:
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Mechanized fishing started in Indian waters in mid —fifties and large-scale
operation of trawl fishing began in the mid sixties by the surfeit of individual
entrepreneurs. The southwest coast of India especially the coastal waters of
Kerala are the most productive area in the subcontinent and the state has been
in the forefront in marine fish production (Kurup, 2001a). Though the coastline
of Kerala is one tenth of the coastline of India, the state occupies the foremost
position in the marine fish production of the country, accounting for more than
30% of the marine fish landings (Thomas, 2000). The coastal waters of Kerala
have rich and diversified fishery resources, which are prone to heavy
exploitation by a unprecedently high number of fishing gears, among them,
mechanized bottom trawlers with a numerical strength of 4550 (Kurup, 2001a)
against the permissible number of 1145 (Kalawar, et al., 1985) are the most
destructive. Trawling operations during monsoon periods in Kerala has been a
subject of controversy between traditional fishermen and trawl fishers on a
subject that trawl fishing destroys large amount of juveniles and young ones of
fishes since this period is the major breeding season of most of the fish and
prawns (John, 1996). Therefore Government of Kerala imposed a ban on
bottom trawling activities from 1988 onwards for a period varying from 21-70
days, which usually commences from June 15th. Though many studies
revealed that large amount of non-target groups were destroyed in the
commercial trawl fishing in the Indian waters, no concerted study has been
conducted so far to evaluate the real impact of bottom trawling on the sea
bottom and its living communities. The present study was conducted to assess
the impact of excessive bottom trawling exerted on the sea bottom habitat and
its living communities, which would be useful in impressing up on the
seriousness of habitat degradation and biotic devastation, enabling the
concerned to adopt relevant conservation and management steps to conserve
the resources for sustainable exploitation |