Author(s): Sahadevan P

Abstract: The oil sardine (Sardinella longiceps) and Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta) fisheries form the main stay of the pelagic fisheries of India. Many authors reported an inverse relationship of mackerel to oil sardine fisheries, in the country. Competition for food and space has been attributed as possible cause for the observed inverse relationship. The present study was undertaken to ascertain whether there is any true relationship between the landings of these two fishes by analyzing catch data for a period of 65 years by employing Pearson product moment correlation coefficient (r). An attempt was also made to examine whether there is any true competition between the two species. The results of the study indicated no negative relationship between the landings of oil sardine and mackerel in India. Instead, there is a positive correlation, though weak, between the landings of the two species (r = 0.425). Further, there is no record to provide evidence for direct competition between the two species.

Pages: 397-402  |  1638 Views  339 Downloads

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