06-bioresourcesstatu.. - M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation
06-bioresourcesstatu.. - M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation
06-bioresourcesstatu.. - M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation
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Gulf of Kachchh<br />
Kachchh. Ninety-one species of Pelecypods<br />
belonging to 27 families have been described from<br />
the Gulf of Kachchh \\ith a note on their relative<br />
abundance (Kundu, 1965). Moses (1938) has<br />
reported that there were 10 rich beds of the<br />
windowpane oysters between Balapur Bay and<br />
Pindara Bay of Gulf of Kachchh. Economic<br />
significance of the windowpane oyster fisheries<br />
along the gulf coast has been re-assessed by<br />
Verghese (1976). Gokhale et at. (1954) have<br />
reported growth rate of pearl oyster Pinctada<br />
pinctada in the Gulf of Kachchh. Various aspects<br />
. of the pearl fisheries in Gulf of Kachchh have been<br />
described by Eswaran et at. (1969).<br />
During the ICMAM data collection in February-<br />
March 1999 along coastal regions of the Gulf total<br />
group observed varied from 5 to 10. The groups<br />
were polychaetes, amphipods, decapods, molluscs,<br />
echinoderms, crustaceans, gorgonians, corals and<br />
bryozoans.<br />
c. Corals:<br />
Genetic diversity of the scleractinian corals<br />
occurring around the Poshitra point and the niche<br />
differentiation of various reef-building corals have<br />
been studies by Patel (1978).Various possibilities of<br />
establishing coral based industries in Gujarat and<br />
their potential to generate employment were<br />
discussed by Patel & Bhaskaran (1978).<br />
Satellite imageries indicated that the total reef<br />
area in the Gulf was 217 km' in 1975, which<br />
decreased to 118 km'in 1985 and 123 km' in 1986<br />
with net loss of 94 km' or 43% of the coral cover.<br />
The satellite pictures show that the reefs that are<br />
interpreted as having died out between 1975 and<br />
1985 in fact lie buried under mud, proving<br />
conclusively that the important, if not the only,<br />
cause for coral damage is the heavy silt load<br />
(Bahuguna & Nayak, 1998; Bahuguna et at., 1998).<br />
Satellite imageries also clearly showed that the<br />
core area of the MNP coral reefs, which covered<br />
116km'in 1975,was reduced to 83 kID'in 1982 and<br />
53 km' in 1985. The Remote Sensing data<br />
supported by ground truth data collection<br />
revealed that between 1985 and 1991 a net<br />
improvement (from 53 to 85 km') in coral cover<br />
within the core area of the MNP has taken place<br />
(Bahuguna & Nayak, 1998). This happened mainly<br />
because of the imposition of the ban on coral sand<br />
extraction by the cement factory at Sikka. The<br />
reefs are generally restricted to areas exposed to<br />
the strong tidal currents and live corals are<br />
generally confined to the northern and western<br />
10<br />
sides of the islands. The diversity of coral species<br />
is the lowest of all Indian reefs. A total of 44<br />
species of Scleractinian corals (stony corals) and<br />
12 species of soft corals were reported in 1988<br />
(Pillai & Patel, 1988). The monograph on Biological<br />
Diversity of Gujarat listed 40 species and 23<br />
genera of stony corals, 3 species of soft corals and<br />
4 sea fans from the Gulf (Pilo et at., 1986). Most of<br />
these corals are hermatypes (reef forming) while<br />
only a few are ahermatypes.<br />
The subtidal observations, underwater<br />
photography and videography shows that live<br />
corals - both soft and hard, are abundantly<br />
present in the sub-tidal regions of the reefs at<br />
various stages of growth. The genera Favia,<br />
Favites, Goniopora, Montipora, Turbinaria and<br />
the broken branches of Acropora. The soft corals<br />
genera are Dendronephythya and Nephthya.<br />
Stony corals dominate most of the reef area.<br />
d. Fisheries :<br />
Gujarat tops the list of the 9 littoral states of India<br />
in marine fish production accounting for 23.1% of<br />
the National total. In 1997-98 the State exported<br />
17.9%of its marine catch, which was 32.5% of the<br />
National export. Value-wise Gujarat earned 13.6%<br />
(Rs. 637.85 crores) of the Country's marine<br />
products export earning (Rs. 4,697.48 crores)<br />
(Fisheries Statistics, 2000).<br />
The Gulf of Kachchh and Arabian sea areas of<br />
Kachchh district supports a good fishery of<br />
commercially important species. The coastal<br />
centres along the Arabian Sea and the Kori Creek<br />
had a fish landing of 50,193 tons which was<br />
around 70% of the catch for Kachchh district<br />
during 1997~98.The three districts bordering the<br />
Gulf together landed 1,28,653tons during the same<br />
year, which was 18.3% of the State total 7,02,355<br />
tons. It can be obvious from the above that the Gulf<br />
proper accounts for 60% of total landings from the<br />
northern waters of Gujarat (Fisheries Statistics,<br />
2000). It is not clear what is the actual fish<br />
production from the Gulf, as the landings consist of<br />
even catches from outside the Gulf.<br />
It has been stated earlier that the state has<br />
reached the maximum sustainable yield (MSY)for<br />
fishing in the coastal belt upto a water depth of 75<br />
meters (Fisheries Statistics, 2000). The present<br />
trend indicates an intensification of fishing, which<br />
may, eventually, lead to overfishing of the stock.<br />
Fish with less commercial value, like Bombay<br />
Duck, Ribbon fish, small Sciaenids and<br />
miscellaneous fish, constituted over 70% of the