Stock assessment of coastal tuna along the west coast of India

The estimated average annual landings of tunas along the \nmainland coast of India during 1995-2002 was 36,720 t of which \n75% was from the west coast. Maja species landed are Euthynnus \nafiis, Auxis thazard, A. rochei, Katsuwonus pelamis, Thunnus \ntonggol and Thunnus albacares. Among these, E. a#nis was the \nmost abundant tuna species along the West coast with an average \ncontribution of 42%. The southern States comprising Kerala, \nKarnataka and Goa contribute nearly 72% to the total E. aflnis \nlanding along the west coast, the rest contributed by Gujarat and \nMaharashtra. Other important coastal species include A. thazard on \nthe Southwest coast and T. tonggol on the Northwest coast. An \nassessment of the stock of these dominant tuna species is presented \nhere