Participatory GIS in trawl fisheries along Mumbai coast, Maharashtra

Abstract

An effort was made to prepare thematic maps of fisheries resources from trawlers along Mumbai coast, Maharashtra using Participatory GIS. Geospatial data on fishing, catch and samples of fish from commercial fishing vessels was collected and processed in Arc GIS 10.2 to develop tools for fishery management and resource conservation of the region. It emerged that the trawlers from Mumbai carried out trawling operations between 20⁰22'50''N to 18⁰12'20''N latitude and 72⁰21'50''E to 72⁰52'00''E longitude in depth range of 5 to 40 m. Catch percentage varied from 66% to 92% and 70% to 95% by multi-day and single-day trawlers respectively. Discard comprised juveniles of commercial species and adult fishes of low market value. In all, 121 species were caught by multi-day and single-day trawlers.