Appraisal of the Marine Fisheries of Maharashtra

Maharashtra with a coast line of 720 km ranks second among the maritime \nstates of India in respect of marine fish landings. There are 153 landing centres \nsituated in the five coastal districts namely, Thane, Greater Bombay, Raigad, \nRatnagiri and Sindhudurg. The state, which has a continental shelf of 89,096 \nsquare kilometers, offers rich potential for marine fisheries. The areas of \npotential fishing grounds in 0-50 m depth and 50-200 m depth are 2.55 and 10.48 \nmillion hectares respectively. Fishing takes places almost throughout the year \nexcept during the monsoon period. Several types of boats, mechanised and nonmechanised, \nusing different gears land their catches. The exploited marine fish \nlandings in the state are estimated by a well-planned multi-stage startified sampling \ndesign followed by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute. Bombay \nduck, non-penaeid prawns, penaeid prawns, croakers, pomfrets, elasmobranchs, \nperches and ribbonfishes are some of the commercially important groups which \nform the bulk of landings. From the early sixties the marine fish landings in \nthe state have been steadily progressing mainly owing to the increase in the mechanised \nfishing. This increase continued up to midseventies and thereafter the \nlandings have more or less stabilised.