CORDIO Status Report 2000

Relative importance in total landings (%)
100
80
60
40
20
0
Crustaceans
Reef fish
Demerasal fish
Pelagic fish
Total
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
(Millions)
Total marine landings (tons)
Figure 3. Trends in total fish landings and composition for India between
1969 and 1993.
The low relative contribution of reef fish to the total
marine fish landings (Figure 3) illustrates how India,
with its limited area of coral reefs, does not exploit its
reef fish resources as much as other densely populated
coastal areas of the world (e.g. Indonesia). Reasons for
this are:
1. Most reefs are found in regions that are lightly populated
such as Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
2. There is a high demand for large pelagic fish such as
mackerel and tuna at both domestic and export markets
and, as a consequence, the fishery in large reef
areas such as Lakshadweep focuses on these large
pelagic species rather than reef fish.
However, it is feared by the fishers Andaman and Nicobar
Islands that fishers from the Gulf of Mannar, who
are faced with declining fish catches in their own waters,
will increasingly turn their attention toward the
waters surrounding these remote islands. Furthermore,
since 1969 there has been a significant increase in the
relative importance of reef fish to the total landings indicating
that the pressure on reef fish resources is likely
to increase.
Mainland India
The total value of fish exported from India was estimated
at more than 500 million US$ in the early1990’s. This
is an enormous increase from the 5 million US$ that was
exported in 1951 (Anonymous, 1995). Although this can
be explained, in part, by the greater number of fish
landings, the most significant factor is the drastic increase
in the value of fish. Between 1990 and 1995, the
value of 1 ton of fish at Goa state has increased three
fold from 0.3 million Rs to 1.1 million Rs (CMFRI,
1995). Of India’s coastal states, Tamil Nadu and Kerala
produce the largest landings of perches which, according
to CMFRI, includes true reef fish species such as
rock cods, snapper, emperors (“pig-face breams”),
threadfin breams and other perches (Sivaraj et al., 1992).
For India, threadfin breams contribute most to the overall
catch (Kumaran & Gopakumar, 1986). Of the reef areas,
the largest catches, in terms of absolute biomass, are
reported from the Gulf of Mannar and are more than an
order of magnitude higher than the next most productive
region, the Lakshadweep Islands. Andaman and
Nicobar Islands produce the least of all Indian reef areas
in absolute figures. The coastal shelf fishery in Gulf of
Mannar produces mostly small pelagic fish such as sardines
(25%) and few true reef species. In monetary
terms, the prawn trawl fishery is most important. However,
its damaging effects to the coastal habitats constitute
a major threat to sustained exploitation of demersal
resources in this area. Moreover, the large by-catch of
these trawl fisheries has caused a decline in catches in
other fisheries. Whereas the total landings for India increased
by a factor of 1.5 between 1969 and 1979, landings
for the oceanic states increased by a factor of 3.2
(Lakshadweep) and 4.2 (Andaman & Nicobar) during
the same period.
Lakshadweep Islands
Of the 36 islands that comprise Lakshadweep only 10
are inhabited by nearly 11 000 people. The largest contributions
to annual fish landings of this region come
from Agatti (1400 tons) and Suheli (800 tons), mostly be-
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