Trawl fishery potential of the south-east coast of India

Scanty information is available regarding trawl fishery resources of the waters of the South-East \ncoast of India in the Gulf of Mannar. Until the establishment of the Offshore Fishing Station of the \nGovernment of India at Tuticorin in 1958, no organisation has conducted trawling alorg scientifc lines \nfor charting the offshore fishing grounds, in order to delineate the distribution of commercially importent \nfish and prawns in space and time. Since 1959, exploratory trawling by medium-sized trawlers has been \nmainly conductedin the offshore waters around Tuticorin between latitude 8° 00'-9° 10' N and longitude \n77°30'-79° 00'E. The results show that fairly rich fishing grounds exist in this area. The psrer \nindicates scope for further exploitation of the grounds so far charted.