Insights from an exploratory survey based assessment of the deep–sea fish resources of the continental slope in the Indian EEZ

Ganga, U and Beni, N and Jinesh, P T and Manjebrayakath, Hashim and Ghosh, Shubhadeep (2024) Insights from an exploratory survey based assessment of the deep–sea fish resources of the continental slope in the Indian EEZ. Marine Fisheries Information Service, Technical and Extension Series (259). pp. 23-34.

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Abstract

With declining catches from inshore waters, there is increasing importance being attributed to development of offshore fishing activities. However, unless this development is based on sound scientific basis, taking into account the biological characteristics of the resources, the virgin biomass and fishing grounds available, sustainability will be compromised, resulting in a boom and bust phenomenon. The biological processes such as growth, maturation, feeding, fecundity of the deep-water species are less known than commercially exploited shelf species and can only be assessed using dedicated deep-water exploratory surveys. Time series data obtained through fishery independent surveys are thus critical for making reliable fish stock assessments. It is in this context that the findings under the Centre for Marine Living Resources & Ecology (CMLRE) funded project “Assessment of Deep–Sea Fishery Resources of the Continental Slope of the Indian EEZ” have aimed to achieve the objectives of assessing the magnitude and distribution of the deep-sea fishery resources of the continental slope region through exploratory surveys, and biological information of the hitherto untapped resources, which will be useful for informed decision making on fishing and management strategies to be adopted while developing deep-sea fisheries. An associated outcome was the development of geo-referenced database on trawlable fishing grounds obtained during the several exploratory surveys. This was possible as fishing trials were operated after scanning all the potential fishing grounds in a particular transect for their suitability

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