• Corpus ID: 82887448

Resource characteristics and stock assessment of whitebaits

@article{Luther1992ResourceCA,
  title={Resource characteristics and stock assessment of whitebaits},
  author={G Luther and K V Narayana Rao and G. Gopakumar and Chellappandian Muthiah and N. G. K. Pillai and Prathibha Rohit and K. C. Narayana Kurup and S Reuben and P Devadoss and G. Syda Rao},
  journal={Indian Journal of Fisheries},
  year={1992},
  volume={39},
  pages={152-168}
}

• G. Luther, K. N. Rao, +7 authors G. S. Rao
• Published 1992
• Environmental Science
• Indian Journal of Fisheries

The fishery of whitebait for 1979-88 was studied. The southern maritime states accounted for 97% of the country's whitebait landings. The quartelWise whitebait landings, gearwise catch and catch per unit effort for 1985-88 were studied and discussed. Encrasicholina devisi and Stolephoru., waitei were the dominant species in the whitebait fishery. The fishery and biological characteristics of these two species at Visakhapatnam, Madras, Vizhinjam, Cochin and Mangalore are presented. Whitebait are short-lived fish, the longevity of E. devisi being 1.9 years and that of S. waite; about 2.3 years. Both the species get recruited into the fishing ground at about 30-35 mrn total length when 2-3 months old. The fish from 40-55 mm length onwards (3-5 months old) are caught in greater abundance. The major bulk of the annuallalldings is constituted by 6-15 months old fish. The growth parameters, mortality rates and exploitation ratios of the two species were estimated for both the coasts. Critical evaluation of the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) estimates in relation to biomass at MSY level indicilted the possible increase in production of E. devi.fi by about 20% over the current yield with higher effort input along the west coast. For E. devi.,i in the east coast and S. waitei in both the coasts, the expected increase was only marginal.