Fishing
in the Andamans
Dr
SK Ghosh explores the vitals and potentials of the fisheries sector
in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
The
Andaman and Nicobar group of islands comprise of almost 572 islands,
islets, reefs and exposed rocks forming a part of a broken chain
of islands extending from Myanmar to almost the Indonesian group
of islands. They contain a considerable amount of marine resources.
Innumerable
creeks, bays and backwaters harboring nature's most productive mangrove
and coral eco-system offer a rich, and diverse marine fish stock.
Since such requisite coastal features are not encountered in the
mainland, the marine cage culture potential of the country lies
in these islands. Any fisheries development plan of the island needs
to take the islands maricultural potential into account.
| Table1:
Geographic data of the Andaman & Nicobar |
| Parameters |
A&N
Isle |
India |
Share
(%) |
| Area
(km2) |
8,249 |
33,00,000 |
0.25 |
| Coastline
(km) |
1,912 |
8,041 |
23.77 |
| Shelf
Area (km2) |
34,965 |
5,00,000 |
6.99 |
| Shelf
area: coastline |
18:1 |
62:1 |
- |
| EEZ
(km2) |
6,00,000 |
20,20,000 |
29.70 |
| Marine
fish MT |
0.2435 |
3.934 |
6.19 |
Marine
fisheries development
| Table
2 : Marine fishery resources of Andamans |
| Type
of Resource |
Fish
Group |
Potential
(tonnes) |
Present
Yield
(tonnes) |
%
Exploitation |
| Inshore
fishery |
Pelagic
fishery |
1,30,000 |
13,200 |
10 |
| Inshore
fishery |
Demersal |
22,500 |
13,000 |
57.77 |
| Offshore
fishery |
Deep
sea/Oceanic |
92,000 |
473 |
0.51 |
| Total: |
|
2,44,500 |
26,673 |
10.9 |
The
marine fishing regulations provide for:
1. Exclusive operation of traditional and artisanal fishing
using country crafts and motorised country crafts in the inshore
area up to 10 km from the shore;
2. Mechanised fishing using boats up to 20 m and above OAL,
beyond a distance of 10 km from the coast and up to a distance of
23 km;
3. Operation of bigger mechanised fishing vessels (MFVs)
up to 20 m and above OAL beyond a distance of 23 km, that is beyond
the outer limit of the territorial waters of the Andaman Islands.
Inshore
fishery resources
Most
of the marine catches of the islands are coming from near shore
waters using diverse fishing crafts and gears. The resource in the
inshore region comprise of pelagic stock and demersal stock.
Both
pelagic and demersal stocks are being exploited far below their
optimum exploitation level. In the inshore areas the stocks of Anchovies
and Carangids are largely exploited beyond the optimum stock level
and needs to be restricted in order to ensure long-term sustainability.
The other pelagic stocks including that of coastal Tunas are least
exploited. As regard demersal stock, though the potential of individual
fish types was not available yet, the gross potential was estimated
to be 22500 tonnes
Fishing
craft
There
are only two types of fishing crafts found operating from the fishing
bases all over the islands. These are:
1. Plank-built boats ranging in size from 25 ft to 35 ft
with or without inboard engines (IBMs) of 8 to 15 HP and
2.
Dugout canoes of 10 ft to 22 ft size. Various subsidy schemes are
being implemented by the Fisheries Department under which, several
boats have been supplied with IBMs.
Fishing
gear
The
prominent type of fishing gears being employed in the Islands are
gill net, hook & line, cast net, shore-seine and anchor net.
Fish
landing
The
major landings (approximately 80 per cent) are from South Andaman
followed by Rangat (11 per cent), Diglipur, Mayabander, Little Andaman,
and Campbell Bay in that order.
Development
strategy|
The
existing traditional crafts need to be improved and modified to
operate in deeper waters of the continental shelf. The non-mechanised
boats can be slowly phased out, and in its place motorised sail
boats of larger size should be introduced. Hooks
and lines also need to be made operational at deep water columns.
Resource
specific vessels recommended for introduction comprise of small
trawlers for exploiting demersal and midwater fishery resource and
the small long liners for Tuna fishing close to the coast.
|
Table
3: MFVs proposed for Near Shore Waters
|
|
Size
of vessel
|
Number |
Fishing
method |
| 10
m OAL |
40 |
Trawling/Gill
netting |
| 11
m OAL |
25 |
Purse
seining/Long lining |
| 13.2
m OAL |
5 |
Purse
seining/Long lining |
Deep
sea fishery resources
The
offshore and oceanic resources are estimated to be between 82,000
and 94,000 tonnes by the Fishery Survey of India. Apart from tunas,
other fishery stocks like oceanic sharks, cephalopods, deep-sea
ground fishes, lobster, prawns and others offer a good scope for
exploitation.
Craft
and gear
The
Directorate of Fisheries has suggested introduction of resource
specific vessels for test fishing on a joint venture basis with
agreement for export. Based on the outcome of the test it may be
possible to develop the programme for introduction of resource specific
vessels for the sector. However a tentative plan for introduction
of such resource-specific vessels has been proposed by the Department
of Fisheries (table 4).
| Table
4: Deep Sea Vessels recommended (GOI, 1989) |
|
Location
|
Vessel
size |
Fishing
method |
Unit |
| Campbell
bay |
11-15
m |
Purse
seine/long liner |
65 |
| Campbell
bay |
30-50
m |
Long
liner/purse seine |
50 |
| Campbell
bay |
50-75
m |
Tuna
long liner |
10 |
contd
