Maharashtra government restricts fishing of juvenile of 54 marine species

In a bid to conserve fish stock and regulate the size of the catch, the Maharashtra government has issued an order to restrict fishing of young of 54 commercially important species, including pomfret and prawn.

Separately, the State Advisory and Monitoring Committee has recommended that every mechanised fishing vessel using trawl net shall fit Turtles Excluding Device (TED) while operating in the territorial waters of Maharashtra, and the panel also set a minimum legal size for 54 commercially important species to reduce the chances of juvenile fish getting caught.

''The Government of Maharashtra has decided to protect the interest of different sections of persons engaged in fishing, particularly traditional fishing, and to conserve the stock by adopting best management practices on a sustainable fishing such as regulating the size of the catch, avoiding the catch of small fishes and juveniles,'' an order dated November 2 said.

Jyoti Meher, director of the Maharashtra State Fisherman Cooperative Sangh, welcomed the move, saying this will help curb indiscriminate fishing and lead to production of stock which is rapidly declining.

''The State Advisory and Monitoring Committee has recommended the minimum legal size (MLS) of fifty four (54) commercially important species of fishes to be caught by any fishing vessel and any fishing gear in the territorial waters of the state of Maharashtra,'' it said.

The order called for restricting juvenile fishing.

''It is necessary to apply a precautionary approach to restrict juvenile fishing, so as to avoid catching huge quantities of immature fishes, as most of the fishes are caught before reaching the minimum size of maturity and not even having the opportunity to reproduce one during their lifetime, thereby affecting the next year's production of the fishery,'' it said.

The 54 species mentioned by the government include scalloped spiny lobster, Bombay duck (bombil), silver pomfret, black pomfret, Chinese pomfret, spotted seer (surmai), gold spotted anchovy (mandeli), blue crab, kiddi prawn, speckled prawn, jinga prawn, flower tail prawn and coastal mud prawn.

Fishing of juvenile or fish seed it will hamper the reproductive cycle and ultimately affect the marine resources, which may become difficult to maintain sustainable stocks in the territorial water in the future, the order said.