Types of Fisheries

Types More than 1,800 distinct species of fish are known to exist in India. However, very few varieties are caught in appreciable quantities. The major forms of fisheries in India are as follows.
(i) Marine Fisheries Accounting for about 63 per cent of the total annual production of fish and being confined to coastal waters in the west from Kutch, Malabar coast to Coromandal coast in the east, they are spread over narrow belts of continental shelf and slope running to 5,600 km with a total fishable area of about 2,81,600 sq km. They lie between the coast and 200 m limit. More than 75 per cent of the total marine fish are from west coast. Higher phsosphate and nitrate content results in greater plankton productivity. Major fishes are sardines, mackerel and prawns. On the eastern coast, the important fishes are horse mackerels, dupeoids and silver bellies Off-shore and deep sea fishing which accounts for a small production of marine fish in the country has not been developed fully so far in India. Deep sea fishing consists of fishing in off-shore and the high seas for surface, mid­water and bottom forms of fish.

(ii) Freshwater or Inland Fishery Freshwater fishery is carried on in rivers, canals, irrigation channels, tanks, ponds, lakes, etc. About 37 per cent of the country's total fish production comes from inland fisheries. Freshwater fishery can be divided into two categories. Pond fisheries suitable for quick growing fishes with non-predacious feeding habit. Examples are catla, rohita, kalabasil, mringal, mullets, carp, etc. The other is riverine fisheries. About one­third of the total fish production in India comes from rivers. Such fishing is very active during winter season when floods usually subside. During rainy season fishing is poor. River fish: catla, mringal, hilsa, etc. West Bengal, Bihar and Assam are important states.
(iii) Estuarine Fisheries This is confined to estuaries, backwaters, tidal estuaries, lagoons, inundated areas and swamps along the entire coast, that is, important estuarine areas of the Ganga, Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, Narmada and Tapi, the brackish water lakes of Chilka and Pulicat, and the backwaters of Kerala. Prawn is an impor­tant variety.

(iv) The Pearl Fisheries Areas are usually on the ridges or rocks or dead corals forming extensive pearl banks at a depth of 18-22 m. The distance from the shore is about 20 km. Pearls of high value area obtained from pearl­oysters. Principal centres are the Gulf of Mannar, Gulf of Kutch and Palk Bay and around Andaman and Nicobar Islands. They are a state monopoly.