Fishery and population dynamics of Epinephelus malabaricus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) off Tuticorin, southeast coast of India

Manojkumar, P P and Ranjith, L and Karuppasamy, K and Kanthan, K P (2019) Fishery and population dynamics of Epinephelus malabaricus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) off Tuticorin, southeast coast of India. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India, 61 (1). pp. 26-30.

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Abstract

Fishery, population characteristics and stock estimates of grouper with special reference to Epinephelus malabaricus from Tuticorin were carried out during 2015-2017. Among the groupers, E. malabaricus was the dominant resource contributing 42.2%, with an annual average production of 420t along this region. The asymptotic length (L∞), growth coefficient (K) and arbitrary origin of growth (t0) were estimated at 99.75 cm, 0.53 y-1 and 0.18 respectively. The mortality parameters, the instantaneous total mortality rate (Z), fishing mortality (F) and natural mortality rates (M) were estimated at 1.14 y-1, 0.62 y-1 and 0.52 y-1 respectively. The recruitment season was during April to August. The length structured virtual population (VPA) analysis revealed a heavy fishing pressure on length group between 40 and 55cm and there is no sign of recruitment over-fishing in this region. The estimated maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and annual catch were 384 t and 420 t respectively. E. malabaricus was optimally exploited as the exploitation ratio (E) was 0.54 but the study infers that further increase in effort may have a detrimental effect on the stock of this species. The results of this study will serve as baseline information for formulating future management measures for the resource along the coast.

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