Assessing Demersal Fish Stocks: A Length‑Based Bayesian Biomass Estimation Approach on the North‑West Coast of India

• Shikha Rahangdale ^[1] ; Rajan Kumar ^[1] ; Shoba Joe Kizhakudan ^[1] ; Sujitha Thomas ^[1] ; K. V. Akhilesh ^[2]
  1. [1] Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi, India
  2. [2] Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, India
• Localización: Thalassas: An international journal of marine sciences, ISSN 0212-5919, Vol. 41, Nº. 1, 2025
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The north-west coast of India along the north-eastern Arabian Sea is the most productive zone along the Indian coastline owing to its wide continental shelf area and perennial productivity. The region is known for its rich multi-species demersal resources and dominance of trawl-based marine capture fsheries. Length-based Bayesian Biomass estimation (LBB) approach provides a potent tool for assessment of data defcient tropical multi-species fsheries where the time series catch and efort data are either not reliable or poorly resolved up to species level. The present study assesses the stock status of fve commercially important demersal fsh stocks, having varying population and life history traits to give insights in to the well-being of the demersal fshery of the region. The results obtained from the LBB analysis showed B/B0 value in the range of 0.23 to 0.42, whereas B/BMSY ranged between 0.62 and 1.10. Though four of the stocks were found to be overfshed, the population trend for these four stocks showed an increasing trend, which is supported by the recent diversion of bottom trawl efort towards pelagic trawling. These stocks are expected to perform better in coming years if the present diversion of trawl eforts towards upper water column persists.