Overfishing of juvenile mackerel worries experts

Mumbai: After pomfret, a large quantity of juvenile Indian mackerel was caught last week, raising concerns about a dwindling fish population. Marine experts pointed out that mostly commercial fish of smaller size was being caught in abundance this monsoon which might restrict the fish population.

Last week, the Sassoon dock was flooded with small-sized Indian mackerel, which, according to fishermen, qualifies more as a by-catch. According to Swapnil Tandel, a marine researcher, around 400kg of juvenile Indian mackerel was present in the dock last week.

“The weight might appear less but there was a large number of fish there. These small fish are caught by bottom trawlers, which cast their nets in deep waters to catch fish. The mesh of the net should have a larger diameter so that small fish is released and only big fish is caught,” Mr Tandel said.

He said that the state needs to implement a minimum size of fish as legal, and nets need to be chan-ged to 40mm square mesh.

The Asian Age on August 26 reported that a large number of juvenile pomfret was caught in a worrying trend of fish landings.

Ganesh Nakhwa, president of the Purse Seine Net Fishermen Welfare Association, said that around 2,000 bottom traw-lers have been engaging in fishing in state waters, which are largely catching juvenile fish.

“The juvenile Indian mackerel does not have high commercial value. Even the big ones among the juvenile Indian mackerel fetch `200 per kg. So, the smaller ones are mostly discarded or used as meal for fish in fish farming. But it is important to address the overfishing of juvenile fish as it may hamper the growth of their population,” Mr Nakhwa said.