India grouper - gillnet and trawl

Industry led FIP started by Netuno USA, Inc. and local partners Neptune, IndoFisheries and Baraka targeting grouper fisheries in India. Groupers are found in the waters of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gulf of Mannar, Gulf of Kutch, Paradeep and Andaman seas (Varghese et al. 2021). On the southwest coast, Kerala represents 47.8% of the marine fish harvest, followed by 43.7% is from Karnataka and 8.5% from Goa. Catches largely occur by mechanized fishing crafts (75.7%), motorized fishing crafts (21.8%) and non-mechanized country crafts (2.5%) (Sathianandan et al. 2021). In Kerala waters, grouper are found at depths 60-150m in rocky and coral reef grounds in areas called the "Kalava grounds". The main grouper species caught in Kerala include Epinephelus diacanthus, E. malabaricus, E. tauvina, E. chlorostigma and E. bleekeri. Epinephelus diacanthus is the main grouper species caught here, constituting 90% of the groupers landed (Varghese et al. 2021). The most recent catch data indicate that the species comprises ~61% of the catch landed at the main landing centre in the southwest area (specifically Kerala) with no clear sign of a decline in landings (Nair et al. 2018a). The Karnataka coast is around 300 km long and trawls form the main gear type from the mechanised sector. The State has around 96 fish landing centres, the most important being Mangaluru fisheries harbour (representing around 40 percent of Karnataka’s total catch). A recent study of landings at the site suggested that bycatch represents around 68% of the trawl catches, with shrimp, flatfishes, sciaenids, squids and crabs representing target species (Velip & Rivonker, 2015). Most bycatch in Karnataka is landed by single-day trawlers (SDT). SDTs generally operate in depths up to 30 m with the entire catch landed (including both edible ~74% and LVB  ~26%).