Andhra Pradesh with a coastline of 974 km encompassing 9 coastal districts has had a long history of fishing. Starting with traditional fishing in ancient times to the modern, technology-intensive fishing, the marine fisheries sector of the state has grown tremendously reaching record landings of 3.42 lakh tonnes in 2014. The state has 555 marine fishing villages with 353 marine fish landing centres (CMFRI Marine Fisheriers Census, 2010). There are two major fishing harbors at Visakhapatnam and Kakinada where bulk of total trawl catch (nearly 70%) is landed and three minor fishing harbors at Bhairavapalem, Machilipatnam and Nizamapatnam. The marine fishermen population of the state is more than 6 lakhs with roughly a quarter of them, being acive in fishery related activities throughout the year. There are 31,741 fishing crafts in the marine fisheries of Andhra pradesh (CMFRI Marine Fisheriers Census, 2010). The marine fisheries sector, at present, is an important source of employmen...

The immaculate puffer fish, Arothron immaculatus was recorded for the first time from Chilika with a single specimen (TL: 107.9 mm) collected from the outer channel sector, adding a new record to the ichthyofaunal diversity of finfish species from the lagoon.

The average annual marine fish landing of Andhra Pradesh during 2000-2010 was 1.99 lakh t. Fishing effort declined by 33% and 9% in terms of fishing units and fishing hours respectively. Pelagic finfishes contributed 55.6% to the total marine catch, followed by demersal finfishes (27%), crustaceans (14.4%) and molluscs (1.1%). Trawl nets contributed 44.24% to the total catch, followed by gillnets (23.95%). Oilsardine landings fluctuated between a maximum of 19125 t in 2000 and a minimum of 1068 t in 2002. Mackerel landings fluctuated between a maximum of 22763 t in 2009 and a minimum of 6418 t in 2007. Carangids and tunas registered continuous increase in catch over the years; the former from 9964 t in 2000 to 13268 t in 2010 and the latter from 2899 t in 2000 to 10515 t in 2010. Around one third of the tuna landing was contributed by the yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, caught mainly by hooks and lines. Their landing increased on an average at Visakhapatnam from a meager 395 t du...

This study focused on Acanthurus xanthopterus, a reef-associated species also known as Yellowfin surgeonfish from the family Acanthuridae. The objective of this study was to identify and describe A. xanthopterus. A single specimen of 39.6 cm in length and 1263 g. weight was collected from a fisherman involved in traditional Wada fishing in Sikka. Detailed morphological parameters were observed and recorded for taxonomic identification. The results reveal that this species has been observed for the first time on the northwest coast of India, it is also the first recorded mention of the family Acanthuridae from the Gulf of Kachchh northwest coast of India.

Based on a detailed investigation in the fisheries of Tamil Nadu & Puducherry, the authors propose important policy directions. These include a move towards access restrictions, fleet re-structuring and co-management.