Regional Studies in Marine Science 10 (2017) 32–37 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Regional Studies in Marine Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rsma Trend of gillnet fishery along the Maharashtra coast of India: A case study Manoharmayum Shaya Devi, Y. Gladston, K.A. Martin Xavier, Satish Kamat, S.K. Chakraborty, Latha Shenoy * Fisheries Resource Harvest and Post-Harvest Management Division, ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE), Mumbai-400061, Maharashtra, India highlights • Catch composition of single-day and multiday gillnetters was studied. • Highlighted the changes that have taken place in the fish catch composition and gillnet fishing operations. • Specifications of crafts and gears involved in multiday and single-day gill net fishing were discussed. • The findings would help policy makers in the development of conservation strategies and regulatory agencies for imposing fishing fleet restrictions. article info Article history: Received 29 October 2016 Received in revised form 4 January 2017 Accepted 6 January 2017 Available online 11 January 2017 Keywords: Gillnet fishery Catch composition Single-day fishing Multiday fishing abstract In the context of increasing fuel prices in fishing operations, low impact fuel efficient (LIFE) fishing practices such as gillnetting assume significance globally for sustainable development of fisheries. Satpati, which is well known for the dominance of mechanised gillnet fishing is an important marine fishing zone of Maharashtra along the north west coast of India. Considering the relevance of fuel efficient fishing methods, the present study focuses on highlighting the importance of gillnet fishing and to document the several changes that have taken place in the fish catch composition and fishing operations in the gillnet fishery at Satpati during the last few decades. The catch data were collected by fortnightly sampling from the single-day (lobster gillnetting) and multiday (pomfret and seer fish gillnetting) gillnet fishing. Specifications of crafts were recorded in the pre-scheduled questionnaire and by physically sampling the units. The study analysed the catch composition of all the three representative units that revealed a change in the trend of species composition over the years. The contribution of pomfrets to the total marine fish landings of Satpati had reduced from 30% in 1987 to 20% in 2015. This can be mainly attributed to the usage of smaller mesh size and increase in juvenile catch of pomfret over the past few years. In this regard, results of the present study with regard to assessment of the present scenario of the mechanised gillnetter fleet at Satpati would be useful to decision makers for imposing fishing fleet restrictions. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Overfishing, destructive fishing practices, pollution and coastal development are some of the major issues facing the marine fisheries sector all over the world (Garcia et al., 2003; Deshmukh, 2013). There is growing consensus for promotion/adoption of low impact fuel efficient fishing practices. Gillnet fishing being a low energy method neither spends fuel on towing net nor damages the fishing ground. Deploying such fishing methods becomes essential * Corresponding author. Fax: +91 22 2636 1573. E-mail address: lathashenoy@cife.edu.in (L. Shenoy). in the context of adopting the guidelines of Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (FAO, 1995). Large and average size fishes of better quality are captured by these gears since they are handled individually (Johnstone and Mackie, 1986). Gillnets are widely recognised as efficient and ‘selective’ type of gear (Bjoringsoy, 1996). Single-day fishing is beneficial for resource conservation by reducing the discards whereas multiday fishing results in large amounts of discards and post-harvest losses. In terms of fuel efficiency, single-day fishing is more fuel consuming and less efficient while, multiday fishing is economical and generates higher gross revenue per fishing trip by saving the fuel cost. Maharashtra, with a coast line of 720 km is one of the major contributing states to marine fish production of India. Satpati is special fishing zone which, is devoid of any trawling activities. It http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rsma.2017.01.001 2352-4855/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.