Goa's fish haul plummeting

Posted on 2008-12-11
PANAJI — The projected estimates by the department of fisheries point out that the fish haul during the year could suffer further drop; the period from January 1 to October 31, 2008, registered only 54,818 tonnes of fish haul.
The latest figures released by the department informs that the marine fish haul along the Goan coastal waters including that in the deep sea touched 52,911 tonnes during the first 10 months of the year, while the inland fish haul, including that in the backwaters was 1,970 tonnes.
The deputy director of the department of fisheries, Mr N V Verlekar told ‘The Navhind Times’ on Wednesday that the last two months of the year record maximum fish haul, amounting to 25 per cent of the total annual catch.
“We expect the fish haul during the months of November and December to take the total annual catch at the 85,000 to 90,000 tonne mark,” he predicted.
The fish haul of the state is continuously reducing. The department of fisheries recorded fish production of 91,185 tonnes during 2007, approximately valued at Rs 37,019.26 lakh, as compared to 1,03,091 tonnes during the year 2006. The fish haul is mainly achieved at six fishing jetties around the state namely Talpona, Malim, Chapora, Cutbona, Betul and Khariwada, Vasco. Goa exports around 15,000 tonnes of fish, earning a revenue of about Rs 60 crore annually. The fish generally exported are mackerel, ribbonfish, squid, cuttlefish, prawns and so on to countries like the USA, Japan, China, etc.
Goa has an approximate coastline length of 104 km with continental shelf measuring 10,000 sq km. The state has 34 fish landing centres and 39 fishing villages.
The figures released by the DoF for the first 10 months of the ongoing year inform that the marine fish haul of 54,818 tonnes include maximum catch of oil sardines (20,741 tonnes), followed by mackerels (8,900 tonnes).
The haul of prawns, which form much in demand aquatic variety, was comparatively less during the first 10 months with 1,916 tonnes of big prawns, 1,699 tonnes of medium-sized prawns and 2,723 tonnes of small-sized prawns obtained by the fishermen. Among other varieties, a haul of 252 tonnes of pomfrets and 5 tonnes of shell fish was registered. Interestingly, the figures show no lobsters, lady fish and golden Anchovy being caught during the same period.
The figures also point out that the inland fish haul of 1,970 tonnes included 7 tonnes of big prawns, 27 tonnes of medium-sized prawns and 430 tonnes of small-sized prawns. Also 69 tonnes of crabs were caught in this category of fishing.
The experts opine that although the fishing ban during the spawning period has been strictly implemented in and along the Goan waters, the graph of fish produce has not surged high. They feel that the increased underwater seismic activities in the Arabian Sea/ Indian Ocean form the reasons for the same.