Status of Hilsa Fishery in Hooghly-Bhagirathi River System and Associated Coastal Waters of Northern Bay of Bengal
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Status of Hilsa Fishery in Hooghly-Bhagirathi River System and Associated Coastal Waters of Northern Bay of Bengal A. M. Sajina1 • V. R. Suresh1 • K. M. Sandhya1 • J. Mukherjee1 • R. K. Manna1 B. K. Behera1 • R. Samanta1 • T. Maity1 • S. K. Banik1
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Received: 10 August 2018 / Revised: 27 August 2019 / Accepted: 30 August 2019 The National Academy of Sciences, India 2019
Abstract Hilsa, Tenualosa ilisha, is a popular fish in northern Bay of Bengal and Hooghly-Bhagirathi river system in India. Despite the high commercial and cultural importance of the species in the region, data on its catch status and fishing effort are highly fragmentary and, sometimes, not reliable as these have not been systematically gathered. By adopting ‘Stratified Multistage Random Sampling’ method, mostly followed for marine fish catch estimation, with modifications to suit the nature of inland fish landings and migratory habit of the species, the annual catch of hilsa in Hooghly-Bhagirathi river system and associated coastal waters in northern Bay of Bengal was estimated for four consecutive years, from 2013 to 2016, as 16,318 t, 45,615 t 12,192 t and 48,922 t, respectively. The catch thus estimated was validated by comparing it with the daily catch data collected by enumerators for three months each during fishing seasons in the first two years from two locations. The catch, seasonality, CPUE and the fishing gear and crafts used were recorded. Comparison of the estimated catch of hilsa with the earlier reported catches indicated that the commercial fisheries of the fish in the Hooghly-Bhagirathi river system have seriously declined, highlighting the compelling need for conservation of the species and managing its fishery. Significance Statement By adapting the stratified multistage random sampling method, the annual catch of hilsa in northern Bay of Bengal and Hooghly-Bhagirathi river system was estimated for 4 consecutive years. The method of estimation was validated and the status of the fishery was analyzed. Historical data available on catch too were used for the analysis of the fishery. & A. M. Sajina [email protected] 1
ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore, Kolkata, West Bengal 700 120, India
Keywords Hilsa Tenualosa ilisha Hooghly-Bhagirathi river system Migratory shad Stratified multistage random sampling
Introduction The shads belonging to subfamily Alosinae (family Clupeidae) include more than 30 species with a distribution ranging across six continents, and most of the species of the family are anadromous and are facing anthropogenic pressures such as overharvesting, pollution and habitat loss in both freshwater and marine environments [1]. Tenualosa ilisha (Hamlton, 1822), commonly called as hilsa (also called as Indian shad) in the eastern region of India, is a migratory shad species contributing to commercial catches. The species is distributed in several countries bordering the Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf [2]. Among the hilsa fishin
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