Saga of marine prawn fishery of Karnataka

Dineshbabu, A P and Sarada, P T and Josileen, Jose (2022) Saga of marine prawn fishery of Karnataka. Marine Fisheries Information Service, Technical and Extension Series, 253. pp. 7-14. ISSN 0254-380X

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Abstract

Trends in prawn fishery of Karnataka, especially during 1950-2020 are broadly divided into four phases, namely primary phase (1950-1970) in which fishery was confined with traditional gears and also as phase of introduction of exploratory surveys, ii) growth phase in which trawl fishery dominated and ventured into deeper waters for prawn fishing (1971-1990), iii) enhanced growth phase (1991-2000) with intensification on trawl fishery in terms of fishing capacity as well as introduction of innovative methods and iv) the present stagnation phase (2006-2020). Till 1970 the fishery was dominated by indigenous fishing units, but later the trawlers contributed the majority of prawn catch. 28 species of marine prawns were recorded along the Karnataka coast, among which, Metapenaeus dobsoni, Parapenaeopsis stylifera, Penaeus indicus, M. monoceros, Solenocera choprai, M. affinis, P. monodon, P. semisulcatus and P. merguiensis were the major contributors. Deep-sea prawn fishery from the coast started from the year 2000 and the major species landed were Aristeus alcocki and Heterocarpus spp. After a promising start, “red ring” landing showed a diminishing trend in catch as well as in mean size. These reductions influenced the feasibility of the deepsea prawn fishery operations and the fishery came to an end by 2009. Prawns were invariably contributing more than 25% of the total revenue in Karnataka fisheries till 1990, but over the period of time, the contribution of prawn in the fishery revenue of Karnataka reduced substantially. An analysis of the trawl economics carried out based on major trawl fishing harbors of Karnataka showed that in 2000, prawns contributed 23% of the revenue of trawlers, which was reduced to 11% in 2010 and to 6% in 2020.

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