HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF FISHERIES RESEARCH IN

E.G. SILAS' Key words: Fisheries research, marine surveys, State Fisheries Departments, Fisheries Research Institutes of India Fishing in the earlier half of the last century mainly comprised artisanal inshore capture fishery usi ng sailboats and catamarans. and culture of Bengal (, rohu and mrigal). The Indian Fisheries Act of 1857 defined the powers !lnd responsibilities of the erstwhile presidencies and princely states. Immediately after India 's independence. for a few decades, the erstwhile Madras and Bombay States led the country in fisheries su rveys and research activities. With I.A.S. officers at the helm of state fisheries departments, these aspects have been relegated to the background and replaced by central government:!l agencies. Precursors oftoday's multitude of research organisations were the CMFRI and CIFRI (for the full names of these acronyms, please see the body oftht: article), established just a few months prior to the country's independence. With the proliferation of fishery activities and research, these parent institutions were split. in 1987, into CICFRI. CIF", CIFE, CIBA, ClFr, NRCCWF and NBFGR. CMFRI studies the fishery biology of commercially important fi sh and shellfish (both molluscan and crustacean), while the Fishery Survey ofIndia (PSI) is concerned with offshore fishery surveys. The original culture of Bengal carps has now diversifi ed to aquaculture of other carps, high altitude coldwater fishes, edible and pearl oysters and m4sse\s, prawns, crabs and lobsters, and their associated diseases and parasites.

INTRODUCTION mai9taining sustainable yields. Today, with depletion of many stocks, rising tensions prevail .. With timely action, fisheries can continue among fishers who are loaded with excess capacity to provide food. jobs and enjoyment for millions in fishing crafts and gears. All this, despite the ofpeople worldwide. But ultimately this means United Nations Law of the Sea Convention changing ollr focus from what is done to a fish to (UNCLOS) of 1982, which was ratified in 1984, what can be done for the fish. And the time for granting rights to Coastal States to have an that change is now." extended jurisdiction over their Exclusi ve (Anne Platt McGinn, 1998) Economic ione (EEZ) of200 nautical miles from the coast for developing their fisheries. From the The world's oceans were for long traditional 12 nautical miles of territorial waters considered to have limitless fishery resources along the coast by Bay Islands, India today has freely open to all for exploitation. The conflicts of 2.02 x 10' sq. kIn sea area, comprising 0.86 x 10' sq. fishers over open access and.exclusive rights have kIn on the west coast (including the Lakshadwe~p intensified in the past fifty years. Worldwide, Sea), 0.56 x 10' sq. km on the east coast and 0.60 x many of the major fish stocks have declined, . 10' sq. km around the And.man and Nicobar reaching critical levels or have collapsed as was Islands. the case with the once thriving whaling industry For those interested in the wealth of our priorto World War II. Now we know that the living knowledge about the fish and fisheries dating from aquatic resources, while renewable, are not the pre-Vedic, Vedic and post-Vedic periods, the infinite, and need good management for period ofthe Sangam literature of south India, the works of Kautilya (ARTHASHASTRA) and King IE .G. Silas Foundation for Nature Conservation. Someswara (MANASOLLOASA) and the Mughal No. 37, Ambadi Retreat, Chelavanoor Road, period, reference is invited to Bora (1952), Raj Cochin 682 020, , India. Email: silaseg@\.snl .net (1955), Rao (1957) and Chitranshi (2000).

502 JOURNAL. BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCJ£Tr 100(2&3). AUG.·DEC 2003 FISHERIES RESEARCH IN INDIA

FOUNDATION OF FISHERIES REsEA RC H IN INDIA entitled THE LAND OF THE PERUM ALS. Day was knighted and he was appointed the Inspector Carolus Linnaeus to Francis Day General of Fisheries oflndia and Burma. Recently The foundation for fisheries research in an excellent book on the life and works of Francis India was laid by some of the early naturalists, Day by Dennis Tucker and K.C. Jayaram, was zoologists and botanists who either worked in published by the British Museum of Natural the Museums of Natural History in England and H.istory. in European countries, where dried or preserved material from the east, including India, was Indian Fisheries Act - 1897 received, identified, catalogued and reported on. A milestone in the history of Indian From the times of Carolus Linnaeus, founder of fisheries is the enactment of the Indian Fisheries the modem classification for plants and , Act of 1897. The Act delegated to the erstwhile there have· been a number of taxonomists who Provinces (States) the responsibility of have studied fishes, crustaceans and other aquatic development and conservation of fi sheries in the organisms from India which earlier included inland and the territorial waters of the respective , , Burma and States. It also empowers the States to formulate . (Ceylo~) , and from the coastal waters. Notable their own rules and regulations for the protection ich.lhyologists among them were Cuvier, and safeguard of their fisheries. Further, the A:ct Valenciennes, Lacepede, Bloch, Schneider, provided adoption of conservation measures to Forsskal, Bleeker and Albert Gunther. Among prevent the des truction of resources. As a early carcinologists were Fabricius, H. Milne consequence, the development, management and Edwards and de Man. They have described conservation of fish and fisheries became a State several fishes and crustaceans new to science. subject. many ofwhich are of commercial importance today. The. last 106 years have witnessed a sea

There were also naturalists with different o change in fisheries research, education, extension avocations in India, who collected and described and development, and there is an imperative need fishes, other aquatic animals and plants and made . for promUlgating a new Fisheries Act. observations on bionomics. Notable among those who had contributed to our knowledge are Patrick Early marine surveys • Russell, Hamilton-Buchanan, Edward Blyth, The H.M.S Challenger Expedition in the · Stolizka, Sykes, J. McClelland and T.C. Jerdon. late sixties and seventies of the 19th century The most outstanding contribution was that of triggered interest in marine resource surveys in Dr. Sir Francis Day, a veterinary surgeon and the Indian seas. This was followed by the naturalist who travelled extensively in India in R.I.M.SS Investigator which carried out coastal the mid-nineteenth century and wrote several and deep-water surveys in the Bay of Bengal and scientific papers and monographs such as the the Andaman Sea. These resource surveys FISHES OF MALABAR (1865). Day's magnum opus brought to light many new and interesting fauna. THE FISHES OF INDIA in two volumes (1875-78) James Wood-Mason published a series of papers f'lllowed by FISHES in the 'Fauna of British India' on deep-sea crustaceans, especially from the Series in two volumes (1889) describing 1,418 Andaman Sea. The Navy also had Surgeon · species are the two most indispensable works on Naturalists working on board the Investigator, . Indian fish to date. Day's interests were and among these the works of Alfred Alcock, catholic and, besides his works on ichthyology, Lloyd and Lt. Col. R.B. Seymour Sewell are most his most important contribution was a book invaluable. Alcock's book A NATURALIST IN INDIAN

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SEAS (1902) is a very interesting narrative of the which led to a considerable amount of work on many discoveries made during his voyages. and plant species diversity. His Sewell was an authority on marine Copepoda. contribution to ichthyology, ecology and biology Later, when the Zoological Survey of India was of freshwater fishes has enriched our knowledge. founded in 1908, Sewell joined the Survey and his Hora's interest in fi sheries research led him to work on the hydrology and plankton of the head the Department of Fisheries of Rhamba Bay, published in the Memoirs of the for some time and also play an important role in Indian Museum as part of the Survey of the Chilka the founding of the Central Inland Fi sheries lake, is an outstanding piece of work. Research Station at Barrackpore, Calcutta (=Kolkaia). His researches on fish, especially the Role of the Zoological Survey oflndia in fisheries "wandering of the Bombay duck", on Hi/sa and research several others, helped in understanding more of The Zoological Survey of India from its the ecology and species diversity of the Gangetic inception functioned as the Centre for research estuarine system. He was a source of great on fish, fisheries and marine biology. It was the encouragement to many. Those who worked with national repository for terrestrial and aquatic him, such as T.Y.R. Pillay, E.G. Silas, A.G.K. Menon organisms collected from the Indian region. This and K.C. Jayaram, subsequently headed research was made possible by its eminent Directors, management positions in both national and namely Nelson Annandale who initiated studies international organisations, thereby influencing on the hydrology of upland lakes, and coastal the development of fisheries research in its lagoons and lakes; Stanley Kemp who, in 1924, different facets. led the British Antarctic Expedition; RB. Seymour Sewell whose forte was marine biology and Role of State Fisheries Departments in oceanography; Baini Prashad, an authority on promoting fisheries research Indian molluscs and fisheries, and Sunder Lal It was Sir Frederick Nicholson who Hora, an ichthyologist par excellence, ecologist established the Department of Fisheries, in the and fish taxonomist. It is their leadership and erstwhile Madras Presidency, and a fish research output that kept the Zoological Sur~ey preserving unit for improving the keeping quality oflndia in a pre-eminent position among research of fish. He also recommended the establi shment institutions in India until the mid-1950s. Each one of fisheries research centres. Madras Presidency of them in their own right contributed to the early had also a very distinguished scientist in James development of fish and fisheries research in Hornell who initiated research in the coastal waters India. . of the Presidency, especially in the Gulf ofMannar Annandale felt that the focus of research at and along the southwest coast, as the Presidency ZSI should not be confined to only pickled extended along the west coast up to Goa. His specimens, but extend to observations in the field works on the chank and pearl oyster fisheries and on the ecology and life habits of species as well. the monograph on Kathiawar are outstanding This dictum was carried out to the maximum by contributions. Marine surveys were co nducted Sunder Lal Hora.whose work on hill stream fishes in the coastal waters along Malabar coast and the published in the Transactions of the Royal Lakshadweep Islands. James Hornell, in 1917, Society of Edinburgh is a classic piece of work reported on the widespread mortality of fishes which has given us an in-depth understanding of along the Malabar coast caused by a "Euglenid an ecosystem that is gaining in importance today. or Flagellate B, or an Infusorian Protozoa "n. It Hora propounded the "Satpura Hypothesis" was through the research of R. Subrahmanyan,

504 JOURNAL. BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 100(2&3). AUG. -DEC. 2003 FISHERIES RESEARCH IN INDIA one of India's leading phytoplanktologists, that rapid development in its marin e sector. Today, in 1954 the causative organism for such recurring Veraval fishing port in Gujarat accounts for the fi sh mortalities was identified to belong to maxim um number of fish landings in Ind ia . Chloromonadineae, and the flagellate was named T. V.R. Pillai, who published his account "The in honour of Hornell as Hornellia marina gen. el Fishes ofKodinar" in the Journal oJthe Bombay sp. nov. Hornell laid a sound foundation for Natural History Society, left Gujarat and went on fi sheries research in the Department. to Calcutta where he spent a few years with the The Madras Presidency played an Centrallnland Fisheries Research Institute before important rol e in Human Resource Development joining the FAO. Pillai carried out outstanding (HRD) for fi sheries research and management in research on raCial studies of Hi/sa ilisha and the early years, as many of its scienti sts went on Pzmtius sarana, which are yet to be emulated. to head State Fisheries Departments, National , in the ear ly years, grouped Fi sheries Research and Development In st itution s fi sheries under the Animal Husbandry or hold responsible positions in the Department Department, but it had dedicated scientists such itself. The Madras Fisheries Bulletin of as B.S. Bhimachar, A. David and H.D.S. Iyengar, yesteryear documented the research conducted who contributed much to the understanding of in tbe"Pr esidency's rivers, lakes and reservoirs reservoir and riverine fisheries, identifying natural and the coastal waters, especially in the Gulf of s pawning grounds, and research on the Mannar where a lot of effort was expended in the advantages of integrated aquaculture of paddy­ ehank and pearl oyster fisheries. cum -tish. Other states too had Departments of The Department of Fisheries of Bengal, Fisheries carrying out both research and and Ori ssa was a linked uni t. T. Southwell, development activities. Dr. S.B. Setna, rightly who headed Bengal Fisheries, established the known as the "Father of mechanisation" of fishing fi sheries laboratory in the Indian Museum, boats in India, pioneered research and Calcutta. A ser ies of scientific publications came development programmes in the erstwhile from this laboratory, some jointly by Southwell Bombay StatelPresidency comprising present­ and Baini Prashad. The latter became the first day Gujarat (excluding the erstwhile Saurashtra Fi sheries Development Adviser to the State), Maharashtra and North Kanara districts, Government of India, Minis try of Food and which were ably carried on by c.v. Kulkarni, and Agriculture. A.G. Kalawar. Kulkarni's contributions include his When Orissa got its own Department of studies on the breeding of Hilsa ilisha in the Fi sheries, it was G.N. Mitra's catholic interests Narmada estuary, and the description ofa unique that moulded it, and carried it on with researches new Cyprinodont fish Horaichthys setnai gen. et on marine capture fisheries, Ch ilka lake fisheries, sp. nov. The establishment of the Taraporevala population dynamics and aquaculture Aquarium and Taraporevala Marine Biological engineering, the last be ing his obsession. Station, closely linked to the Fisheries Eventually, he became the Fisheries Development Department, facilitated research activities on Adviser to the Government of India, and ornamental fi shes and live feeds by scientists such stimu lated innovat ive research programmes in the as H.G. Kewalrarnani, B.F. Chhapgar, K.N . Sankolli Fisheries Research In stitutes under the Ministry and others. of Agriculture. Gujarat, includingersrwhile Saurashtra, with In Madhya Pradesh, bund breeding of S.T. Moses, C. B. Srivatsa and K. Chidambaram carps and research on reservoir fi sheries were heading the Fisheries Department, witnessed a initiated by G.B. Dubey. Some ofthe other states,

JOURNAL. BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 100(2&3). AUG.-DEC. 2003 505 FISHERIES RESEARCH IN INDIA in spite of having Fisheries Departments, did not was started at Cochin in December, 1957 and in have any viable research component, devoting the following year a process ing wing was added al l energy to deve lopmental and welfare to it for dealing with re search on handling, programmes. Some states had Fish Wardens who preservation, process ing, product development also helped in the conservation of stream ecology and quality control. In 1961 , 'the Centre was and game fishes such as the mahseer, Although elevated to the status of an In stitute as the Central individual initiative in fisheries research was there Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT). The in some of the states, with the passage of time Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE) was this was no longer a priority, especially as established in 1961 at Versova, Mumbai and was technocrats lost ground to bureaucrats from the elevated to the status ofa Deemed Un iversity on Indian Administrative Service. Added to this, with March 29, 1989, CMFRI, CIFRI and CIFT were the establishment of the State Agricultural transferred in August 1967, and CIFE on April I, Un iversities (SA Us) after the I 960s, the research 1979, ITom the Ministry of Agriculture to the Indian activities and responsibilities from the State Council of Agricultural Research. Departments of Fisheries were transferred to the SAUs, Fisheries research organisational linkages A number of Mini stries and Departments A CTION FOR THE E STABLI SHMENT OF FISHERIES in the Government of India support fi sheries RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS research. The Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fi sheries under th e Ministry of Dr. Baini Prashad, the Director of the Agriculture (MOA) has the fo ll owing research­ Zoological Survey of India in 1943, stressed the cum-deve lopment , training and extension need for the establishment of fisheries institutions institutes: the Fishery Survey oflndia (FSI, earlier in India in a Memorandum entitled "Post-War known as Deep Sea Fishing Station) which has Development of Indian Fisheries". He became seagoing facilities and helps in fish stock Fisheries Development Adviser to the assessment research , the ,Central In st itute of Government ofIndia in 1944, His recommendation Fisheries Nautical and Engineering Tra inin g as Member Secretary, in the "Report of the Fish (CIFN ET), and the Integrated Fisheries Project Sub-Committee of Policy No.5 on Agriculture, (IFP) (the erstwhile Indo-Norwegian Project), The Forestry and Fisheries" dated-January 18 , 1945, seagoing faci lities of these Institutions have al so for the creation of research. iristitutes in fi sheries been utilised by the ICAR Fisheries Re search was referred by the Govemm'eni'!ll Lt Col. R.B. Institutions for conducting research programmes. Seymour Sewell, under whose a

506 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURA L HISTOR Y SOCIETY 100(2 &3). AUG.-DEC. 2003 FISHERIES RESEARCH IN INDIA techniques. The NIO, CMFRI, and the National 1987. In thi s process, the erstwhile institutes were Drug Research In stitute (NDRI), Lucknow, have realigned and the following institutes were set been working on isolating bioactive compounds up: from marine organisms in the programme "Drugs I. Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute from the Sea." The Central Food Technology (CMFRI); Headquarters (HQ) at Cochin with Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore is the nodal 12 Regional and Research Centres and 28 institute for food technology and has, on its own Survey Centres. and in conjunction with CIFT, Cochin, developed 2. Central In stitute of Fisheries Technology food products and quality standards. (CIFT); HQ at Cochin with five Research Stations. FAOIUNDP Pelagic Fisheries Project (PFP) 3. Central Inland Capture Fisheries Research This internationally aided programme was Institute (CICFRI); HQ at Barrackpore (a part aimed at estimating mainly the pelagic fishery of the original CIFRI) with I I Research resources along the neritic and oceanic waters Centres and 6 Survey Centres. using pelagic fi shing gear and acoustics from the 4. Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture FAO Research Vessel Rastrelliger, an all-weather (CIFA); HQ at Bhubaneswar (a part of the boat. The Project also had a smaller vessel original CIFRI) established on April I, 1987, R. V. Sardinella for work in shall ower coastal with 6 Research Centres and I I Field Centres. waters, but well equipped with acoustic 5. Central Institute of Brackishwater instruments. A considerable amount of research Aquaculture (CIBA); HQ at Chennai (a part went into standardising acoustic procedures. This of the original CIFRI) established in was the first time in the tropical seas that such an November, 1985, with 3 Research Centres and innovative acoustic survey programme to estimate I Field Centre. fish stocks and fi shery resources was attempted. 6. National Research Centre for Cold Water Fisheries (NRCCWF); HQ at Bhimtal (part of 'FAOIUNDP Ba)' of Bengal Programme the original CIFRI) established in 1988, with Prior to the 1970s, the concept of social 2 Field Centres. scientists, anthropologists and economists being 7. National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources associated with fisheries research was alien in (NBFGR); HQ at Lucknow established in the Indian set-up. The Bay of Bengal Programme December, 1983. helped reorient our thinking. The project has 8. Central In stitute of Fisheries Education thrown wide open, subject areas where (CIFE); HQ at Mumbai, given the Deemed sociologists and economists could investigate University status on MarclV9, 1989, with 5 problems, develop models, indicate options for Research Centres. development programmes and conduct malady­ remedy analysis. ROLEOF ICAR FI SHERIES INSTI1lJTES IN HIE G ROWTH OF FISHERIES RESEARCH Reorganisation of the Fisheries Research Institutes under the Indian Council Of A. Freshwater Fisheries and Aquaculture Agricultural Research In the name of strengthening and For the past half a century, the ICAR streamlining research, educat ion, extension and fisheries in stitutes have been playing a dominant training activities of the fisheries institutes under role in fundamenta l and app li ed research in ICAR, a major reorganisation was undertaken in fisheries in the freshwater, coastal brackishwater

JOURNAL. BOMBAY NA TURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 100(2&3). AUG.-DeC. 2003 507 FISHERIES RESEARCH IN INDIA and marine sectors, both in capture fisheries and III. UPLAND COLD WATER FISHER IES in aquaculture/mariculture. We shall look at these The works of Sunder Lal Hora, E.G. Sil as, developments in a sequential order. A.G.K. Menon and K.S. Misra added much to our knowledge of the ichthyofauna of the upland I. RIVERINE FISHERIES cold water rivers and lakes. The ecology and Riverine fishery has been, and still is, hydrological conditi ons of a number of natural main Iy an artisanal level activity. In the early lakes in the Kumaon Himalayas were studied. years. research was directed towards surveys to Under the UNESCO sponsored " Man and understand resource distribution, physical and Biosphere Programme," the limnology of the ecological features, hydrology of rivers, plankton, Loktak Lake, Manipur was studied. Research has benthic biomass and nutrient load , and pre­ been done in induced i)reeding ofdifferent species impoundment surveys. Natural spawning of snow trout (species of Schizothoraichthys and grounds, estimation of spawn avai lability and Schizothorax) from wild stock for ranching in the breeding migrations were studied, so also streams. Besides sllccessfully breeding the resource availability in re lation to zon ation. An golden mahseer Tor putitora and pond -rearing it important achievement was the breeding and in Bhimtal, the new Centre (NRCCWF) has also rearing of Hi/sa ilisha at Allahabad. Research developed composite fish culture suitable for the today is oriented towards anthropogenic hill regions with the following combination, namely pressures, pollution and engineering works that Cyprinlls carpio, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix adversely affect the ecosystems and endanger and CtenophGlyangodon idel/a. indigenous fish and other aquatic organisms. The The breeding and propagation of the protection of wild stock to prevent genetic dri ft mahseer was a successful programme at the Tata in farm-reared fish, the conservation of river Electric Company's Wulvhan Lake facility at habitats and biodiversity, the protection of Lonavala, Maharashtra. endangered riverine fauna such as th e river dolphin Platanista gangetica, the gharial IV. FRESHWATER AQUACULTURE Gavialis gangeticus and fishes such as the The progress from spawn collection from mahseer (Tor spp.) and Neolissacheilus natural spawning grounds by str ipping, to hexagonolepis, and the development of induced breeding of India n major carps (IM C), management measures through scientific inputs other carps, and other fish species, was are ongoing. The technology and scientific a giant step forward. In 1955, H. Chaudhuri know-how to restore natural population s through successfully spawned the minnow Esomus ranching, habitat improveme~ts and adoption of danricus by pituitary injection. By 1957, carps management strategies are available with the such as rohita, L. bata, Cirrhinus mriga/a, Institutes (CICFRI, NRCCWf), but need to be C. reba and Puntius sarana could be induce-bred. implemented at the State level. This was a major breakthrough which gave a fillip to freshwater aquaculture. Subsequently, research II. REsERVOIR FISHERIES has kept pace with developmental needs, and In 1995, vv. Sugunan classified and gave great strides have been made in the hormonal the State-wise distribution oflarge irrigation tanks, phys iology of fi sh and shellfish so that a wide small, medium, and large reservoirs in India, range of species could be induced to breed, some altogether 19,370 in number and covering a even months before the normal breeding season. waterspread area 00, 153,366 ha. All are man-made It must be added that during the 1970s and and combine the fluviatile and lacustrine systems. '80s, with scarcity of pituitary extracts,

508 JOURNAL. BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIEn 100(2&3). AUG.-DEC. 2003 F1SH£RIES RES£.4RCH IN INDIA research was directed towards the use of human producing about 600 kg/ha/year, it has been chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) for fish breeding; possible to exceed 10 t/halyear. Some fish farmers isolation, characterisation and purification offish in Eluru, have achieved gonadotropin (GtH) and its use in fi sh breeding; production of 13 to 15 tons and more, per hectare use of mammalian gonad otrop in releasin g per year. The research and development at the hormone for fish breeding and use of fish Balabhadrapuram experimental fish farm ofCIFE gonadotropin releasing hormone (Gn RH ). Today, was so supporti ve as to result in an explosive Ovaprim® prepared from salmon gonadotropin growth of freshwater fish culture, from noth ing to releasing hormone and domperidone are widely over I 0(l,000 t, in the Kolleru wetlands in the late in use, with dosages standardised for induced 19805. breed in g of carps and catfishes. The importance For increasing productivity and better of Ovaprim® which has given a boost to economic returns, research was initiated on aquaculture wi ll be evident from the logarithmic integrated fish-farming in volving crop-livestock­ proportions in which fish seed produc~on has fi sh-p rawns in va ri ous combinat ions. The increased from only 490 million fi sh fry in 1973-74 operations, though hi ghly location-specific, to over 20,000 million fry today. yielded good economic returns. Polyculture of Research has been underway in the use of combinations of carps and non -carp species pheromones in fish reproductive physiology. It also showed high yields and good economic has been shown that waterborne steroids and returns. steroid glucuronids orig in ating from the One of the recent developments has been reproductive organs act as pheromones in many the production of pearls from the freshwater species of fishes. Exposure of spawners to the mussels Lamellidens marginalis. L. corrianus ovarian fluids induces ovulat ion and and Parreysia corrugala, using gonadal gonadotropin release, in creasing pl asma implantation of nucleus for spherical pearls. gonadotropin (GtH) in the Clarias Research on cu Ituring of pearl nacre-secreting balrachus. mantle epithelial cells under in vi/ro conditions In an All-India Coordinated Research has been successful, enabling production of Project on air-breathing fi sh culture, techniques uniform quality of pearls. Research aimed at post­ were developed for the maturation and breeding harvest value addition as well as musse\ spat of air-breath ing catfish, and their nutritional production for the grow-out system is also being requirements were studied in order to successfully done. In view of the importance of this research, culture them. Research on sewage-fed water and the need for further refinement to meet bodies holding fish demonstrated the recycling international standards, ICA R has established of organic waste as well as their treatment and the Centre of Excellence in Pearl Culture at further utilisation for agricultural purposes. CIFA. Research was also carried out on a variety of REsEARCH ON FISH GENETICS di seases that afflicted Indian carps and on the prevention and control of fish parasites. India is one of the few countries that have Another important area of research in taken a lead in research on fish and shellfish freshwater aquaculture was composite fi sh genetics. Until the early 1970s, fish culture c·ulture, i.e. the culture ofco mpatible combinations remained largely empirical and artisanal. Then of Indian and Chinese carps. Research on onwards, research in fish genetics start ed composite fi sh culture has yielded excellent receiving greater attention for the purposes of resu lts; from the traditional culture methods upgrading the quality of cultivated species like

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Indian major carps for enhanced productivity, and Tachysurus in which taxonomic ambiguity exists the conservation and management of genetic have been identified. Studies using allozymes and diversity in natural stocks. The National Bureau RAPD markers have shown that the stocks of ofFish Genetic Resources (NBFGR), Lucknow, shrimps Penaeus indicus and P monodon along was established to focus on fish genetic resources the east and west coasts of India were dist inct.. of the country, their collection, classification, Nuclear fingerprinting in Indian major carps and evaluation and cataloguing; conservation and tilapia has been done with a view to develop protection of endangered aquatic species and to species-specific patterns and to differentiate monitor introduction of exotic species. between individuals within a population.

I. RESEARCH ON STOCK IDENTI FICAT ION III. TECHNIQUES FOR ENHANCING AQUACULTURE NBFGR has been actively involved in the P RODUCTIVITY cytogenetic analysis ofIndian major carps, exotic carps, mahseers, freshwater catfishes, 3. Sex control snake heads (Channa spp.) and the endemic Monosex culture of fish has the advantage species of the , developing species­ of growing one sex with faster growth rate and specific banding profiles and characterising the good meat quality. So also, production of sterile genetic stocks. In 1998, NBFGR brought out a populations is economic in fish farming as there chromosome atlas of karyotypes of 128 species is no energy loss in gonadal maturation, which ofteleosts !Tom Indian waters. Three schools of otherwise may utilise about 20% of the food research, one at CIFE, Mumbai, the second at the energy. Research is on for the application of either Department of Zoology, Kurukshetra University, androgen or oestrogen to juveniles to override Kurukshetra, and the third at the University of the intrinsic sex-determining mechanism and Kalyani, West Bengal, have been actively carrying direct it to either male or female sex or induce on research on chromosome banding techniques sterility without altering the genotype. At the in man~ neshV/atet \e\eos\s V/hieh has 'oeen helpfu\ Madurai Kamataj University \MKU), Madurai. in detecting polymorphism in Indian species at 100% masculinisation and feminisation were inter-specific and inter-generic levels. achieved in tilapia (Oreochromis mossambica). Betta splendens, Poecila reticulata and II. B IOCHEMICAL AND MOLECULAR GENETICS Brachydanio rerio by administration of steroids. At NBFGR, different stocks of Carla catla and Labeo rohila from different rivers of the b. Chromosomal manipula"tion Gangetic plains and northeast India have been Chromosome sets can be manipulated in identified using molecular and allozyme markers. externally fertilising fishes to produce gynogenetic. H.K. Lal found the anadromous hilsa (Tenllalosa androgenetic and polyploid individuals. ilisha) population in the River Ganga, above and 1. Gynogenesis: The various applications below Farakka Barrage, and the Brahmaputra not of gynogenesis are chromosomal mapping. exhibiting significant genetic heterogeneity. Use of inbreeding with homozygos ity, and generation allozymes and DNA markers has helped to find that of monosex populations. Gynogenesis has been the butterfish Lactarius laclarius !Tom the east and induced in Indian major carps Labeo rohila. west coasts of India were distinct stocks, as also Cirrhinus mrigala and Calla catla by using cold the highly endemic yellow catfish Horabagrus shocks (12' C for 10 minutes) or heat shocks bracl1)lsoma from Chalakkudy and Meenachil rivers, (39' C for I minute). Gynogenetic specimens of Kerala. Genetic -markers for the marine catfish silver carp have also been produced. Production

510 JOURNAL. BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIEn 100(2&3). AUG. -DEC. 2003 FISHERIES RESEARCH IN INDIA of gynogenetic zebra fish (B ella splendens) and economic traits. Only one combination, namely tilapia, and of YY supermale tilapia by rohu female x catla male, which combines the small gynogenesis and sex reversal have been carried head and the meat quality of rohu with the fast out at MKU, Madurai. growth of catla has found favour among fi sh 2. Androgenesis: Androgenesis can be farmers and consumers. Locally call ed ' naadan', induced by the destruction of female nuclear it is produced in hatcheries in West Bengal , and genome before fertilisation using UV rays and Andhra Pradesh. Reciprocal hybrids of fertilising it with normal sperm, whereby only the Heteropnellstes fossilis and Clarias batrachlls, paternal genome is contributed to the offspring. and H. fossilis and H. microps have also been This is useful in producing inbred lines. In produced. conjunction with sperm cryopreservation, HortnQnal advancement of maturation and androgenesis may prove useful in conservation mUltiple breeding of Indian major carps has programmes where females of a species are not become possible through th e application ofnon­ avai lable. Survival of androgenic individuals is steroid hormones such as HCG, LHRH-a and PGE. much lower compared to gynogens, as the cellular organelle of the egg is affected during irradiation. d. Selection Putative androgenic co mmon carp has be en The success of selection depends on the produced in NBFGR but further improvement and additive genetic variation in th e selected upgrading ofteleost androgenic production is yet population. Heritability estimates of the traits to be done. selected are essential for fi sh breeders to assess 3. Polyploidy: By chromosomal stimulation the response to the selection programme and the it is possible to obtain haploid, triploid and time and cost required to reach the desired goal. tetraploid fishes. These fishes are likely to be A 5% predicted response was obtained in one sterile, and since the process of gametogenesis is generation selection of Etroplus s urGlensis. avoided, they can grow faster. Direct induction of Selective breeding of rohu for improvin g the triploidy has been done in the common carp and growth rate, carried out at CIFA, Bhubaneswar, grass carp. Triploids can be produced by has given rise to a faster growing strain ' Jayanthi suppression of meiotic metaphase II by subjecting rohu ' which is now di stributed to farmers. The the egg to a pressure or temperature shock shortly Manga lore Fisheries College has been carrying after fertilisation . Triploid rohu has been produced out selecti on experiments fo r Labeo fimbria/us at CIFA, and Heteropnellstes fossilis at Benaras and, under a NORAD assisted programme, CI FE Hindu University, Varanasi. MKU, Madurai has has initiated selection eX{l eriment'So on P e n ae:u ::\ mOl'\odon 0.T\6. Mac robrac hium Qroduced tt\:'Q\CY\Q. \\\a~\Q. a:n6. \'(\.\:~()Q.\l,ceQ. \eu'a-p\o\u)' 'm Bella splendens, Brachydanio rerio rosenbergii. and Poecilia reticulata. e. Transgenic fish c. Hybridisation Re searc h on tran sgenic fish is being Selective breeding, multiple breeding and conducted at MKU, Madurai, in collaboration hybridisation are spin-offs from the induced with CCMB, Hyderabad, and CI FA, Bhubaneswar. breeding technology developed at CIFRI, Cultack At MKU, transgenic zebra fi sh, rohu and in the mid-1950s. So far about 44 intergeneric and Heteropnellstesfossilis have been produced. For interspecific hybrids have been produced in India, the zebra fi sh Brachydanio rerio, the gene many of which are fertile, but most hybrids have constructs used were synthesised abroad from not performed well with regard to desired species such as the rainbow trout, while in rohu

JOUR NAL. BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIEH 100(2&3). AUG.-DEC. 2003 5 11 FISHERIES RESEARCH IN INDIA and H fossilis the growth hormone genes of these and highly endemic species such as Tor khudree. species were identified, isolated , sequenced and Lobeo dussumieri and /-Iorabagrus brachysoma. incorporated into vectors prior to gene transfer. Ultra-structure stud ies have been conducted for The potential hazards in consumption of refining cryopreservation prot oco l. Cryoprotec­ transgenic fish - a genetically modified organism tant and dilut ant so luti ons for fis h sperm have (GMO) - on human health need careful been deve loped. Attempts have been made to assessment, as in the case of GMO vegetables cryopreserve naup lii of Penaells monodon and and fruits. The ecological impact of releasin g gametes of P semisulcatus and P indiclls with tran sgenic fishes in open wate rs is not yet tested. limited success. With proper cryoprotcclant, it Biological containment of tran sgen ic fish by has been possible to successfull y cryopreserve inducing steril ity is a priority. The ethical an d bio­ the freshwater cladoceran Moina - so important safety issues need to be addressed before as live feed for shrimp larvae in hatcheries. introducing transgenic techn ology to aquaculture. V. G ENETI C INTROGR ESSrON Unint end ed in tergeneric hybridisation and III. INBREED ING back crossing of F I hybrids wi th th eir parents Inbreeding leads to genetic homozygocity. cou ld re sult in genetic introgression among This, in turn, leads to reduction in growth and fishes, causing contam ination of their gene pool s. food conversion efficiency, increased The rate of genetic introgress ion among Ind ia n abnormalities in the progeny, and poor survival major carps produced during mixed spawning in rates - in short, inbreeding depression. This has Chinese model hatcheries has been recorded as been happening in the carp hatcheries in West 7.25-9.24%. Researc h has suggested modifyin g Bengal and elsewhere. The rate of inbreeding was th e hatch er ies to have species-wise hatching estim ated in south Indian carp hatcheries to vary poo ls to facilitate the breeding of the three Indi an between 2 and 17 per cent. Stunted growth and major carps separatel y, but within the same time irregular body shape combined with skeletal span. deformities have been observed in hatchery-bred silver carp, mri gal and Tor pUlilora. B. Marine Fisheries, Coastal Aquaculture and Mariculture IV CRYOPRESERVATION Storage of fish milt, eggs and embryos I . M AR INE CAPTURE FISHER IES without loss of viability is of considerable In th e early years, the maj or research input importance in aquacu lture, as this wo uld make was towards fa un al studies and fi sh biology such avail able gametes throughout the 'year and as studies on phyto- and zooplankton. fi sh eggs superior germpl asm easy to transport over long and larvae, age, growth and reproduction, food d istances. It greatly benefits selection and and feeding habits, and related subjects. So also, hybridisation programmes. A very important with the meagre seago in g facilities ava il able, fu nction is that it helps in the development of a coastal oceanographic studies were conducted gene bank for conservation by cryo preservation in a limited number of areas . Fi sh biology stud ies of our natural fish genetic resources. were mainl y focussed on some of the major NBFG R has taken a lead in the consti tuents of fi sheries such as the oil sardin e, cryopreservati on of fish gametes and has other clupeids, mackerel, Bombay duck, th e larger developed cryopreservation protocol for 14 croakers, and some of the regionally dominant species oftelcost, whi ch include some endangered species like th e sil ver be lli es and carangids.

5t2 JOURNAL. BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY 100(2&3). AUG.-DEC. 2003 FISHERIES RESEARCH IN INDIA

In the years following World War ll, the and spawn 6-8 months after hatching! The multi­ expansion of fi shing in the temperate waters and species and multi-gear fishery system further the extension of industrial fishing necessitated compounded the problem. All these have led to management interventions and thi s saw a surge alternative approaches for tropical fish stock of research activity in fish population dynamics assessment. and fish stock assessment. Most of the models and methods were developed in the context of 3. Population dynamics and stock assessment temperate water systems, where fisheries are The mid-1980s witnessed intense activity characterised by the single species and single round the world in tropical fish stock assessment, gear system, supported by species that have long culminating in the development of length-based Iifespans and clearly defined spawning periods stock assessment methods and models. Th e and breeding grounds. This also facilitated the advent orpackages such as LFSA, ELEFAN, and detennination of age structure of the exploited LFDA incorporating a suite of length-based stock stocks, which formed the basis for most of the assessment methods accelerated fish stock fishery assesment models. The pre-1970 fisheries assessment and created greater awareness among work in India was thus, by and large, based on research workers, fi shery admini strators and the idea that the fishes, especially sardine, stakeholders on the need for fishery management. mackerel and even penaeid shrimp had longevity Thus fish stock assessment and fighery over several years as in temperate waters. Until management continues to be based on the new the mid-1970s, the fish stock assessment in the techniques, with improvements as and when marine fisheries was primarily based on the catch­ required. High speed personal computers and effort relationship, and in some cases population matching software have facilitated simulation parameters were based on age structure estimated modelling for depicting th e complex dynamics of trom fi sh scales and otoliths (ear bones). However, a fishery in a very user-friendly manner, enab li ng such assessments carried out over different years development of various management scenarios. yielded divergent and highly variable parametric This is a comprehensive tool where socio­ values. The Maximum Sustainable Yields (MSYs) economic, biological, ecological and environ­ in most cases were grossly underestimated and mental im plications of various management estimates of age for the same species varied options can be visua li sed. considerably. Such internal inconsistencies were More recently, multi species stock never validated, and perhaps, could not be assessment and an ecosystem approach to fishery validated because ofthe methodological and data management has been taken up, since a holistic constraints. The futility of such exercises became approach, taking into consideration the trophic increasingly evident in the early I 970s, especially interaction s, is so essential for understanding the . the non-applicability of models and methods dynamics of the exploited fish stocks. The developed for temperate waters for the multi­ 'Ecopath' model developed by Polovina in 1984 species tropical fisheries. Most of the exploited has been further expanded for application in stocks in Indian waters have short lifespans and complex fi sheries issues. For the first time in India, protracted spawning seasons, which precludes a trophic model of the fisheries ecosystem of the objective determination of the age-structure of southwest coast oflndia has been developed by the exploited stocks. We now know that some CMFRI. enter the fishery even before or during their 1st CMFRI has developed a Multistage year, and by the 2nd or 3rd year they are no longer Random Sampl in g Techn ique and refined it for there, So also, species of penaeid shrimp mature estimating the exp loited marine fishery resources

JOURNAL. BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETy 100(2&3), AUG.-DEC. 2003 51 3 FISHERIES RESEARCH IN INDIA of the country as well as for obtaining data for the Gulf of Mannar added considerably to our fish stock assessment. This has enabled the knowledge and showed that tropical waters are Institute to develop the National Marine Li ving not "barren deserts" as was then believed by Resources Data Centre, which is supportive of many scientists in the west. During the 1950s, fisheri es research and management. work on seaweeds gained much importance . Short-term forecasts based on satellite Thivy d evelo ped a method for producing imagery help in minimising the search time for Graci/aria edu/is agar in which freezing is not shoaling fishes which congregate along current obligatory. The research of V.K. Pillai added boundaries, slicks, areas of upwelling, submerged cons id er ably to our knowledge on the sea mounts and thermal fronts. Chlorophyll-a biochemical aspects of seaweeds. Jayaraman and. distribution patterns could also indicate spectral his colleagues, in 1959, reported on the trawl bands in which concentrations of herbivores such fi shery of the Bombay and Saurashtra waters. as sardines occur. A seri es ofjoint exercises were Late Dr. S. Jones was an authority on fi sh conducted along th e west coast oflndia. in which eggs and larvae of both freshwater and marine the CMFRI, SAC, FSI, and NARSA participated, fi shes. He contributed a number of papers on the and this cooperati ve e ffort culminated in a subject and some were publ ished in thi s Journal. national symposium on the utilisation of remote As Director o f CMFR1, he steered the research sensing as a tool in marine fi sheries. programmes on tuna and tuna-like fi shes in the Indian seas and made a comprehensive study of b, Fishery biology, marine biology and the tuna live bait fi shes of the Lakshadweep oceanography Islands. His magnum opus, "The Fishes of the The scientists ofCMFRI during the past 55 Laccadive Archipelago" published jointly with years have consid erably contributed through M. Kum aran, describin g, with i.llustrations, over their research, to our knowledge ofthe life history 600 species, is the most exhaustive work on th e and biology of most of the commercially important marine ichthyofa un a of this region to come out groups or species of fi shes, crustaceans (penaeid in recent years. It has also added much to our and non-penaeid shrimps, crabs and lobsters), knowledge o f the species diversity of the coral and mollusc s (bivalves, g astropods and reef ecosystem o f the Lakshadweep. cephalopods). Hi s founding of the Marine Biological N .K. Panikkar, P.R.S. Tampi and Association oflndia in 1958 was a significant event, R. Viswanathan were deeply involved in the study as the Association has a history offostering marine offish physiology, especially the milkfish Chanos biological, oceanographic and fi shery research chanas and its adaptation to fresh and brackish through its journal and special publications, as well waters. P.R.S. Tampi was al so a pioneer in marine as th e national and international symposia on fi sh farming, as he experimented successfully with various aspects of marine resources, their uti li sation , milkfish culture at Mandapam Camp, but could conservation and management that it has held from not follow up thi s line of research since marine time to time. In 1961 , the first International fi sh farming was not in fashion then. R. Raghu Symposium was held on Scombroid Fi shes, Prasad's work on the swarming of Noctiluca in followed later by Symposia on Crustacean Fisheries; Palk Bay and its effects on the local sardine Molluscan Fisheri es; Coral Reefs; Endangered fisheries, and studies on the plankton ofthe Gulf Marine Animals and Marine Parks; Indian Ocean, of Mannar were important contributions. Hi s its Ori gin , Hi story and Resources; Coastal research with P. V. Ramachandran Nair in 1960, on Aquaculture; and so on, and the proceedings of all primary production and its relation to fisheries in the symposia were published.

5 14 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTOR Y SOCIETY, 100(2&3), AUG.-DEC. 2003 FISHERIES RESEARCH IN INDIA

Dr. S.Z. Qasim, who succeeded Dr. Jones A tagging programme of pelagic fishes as Director ofCMFRI, brought a lot of dynamism (mackerel and sardine) and shrimps (Penaeus to marine fisheries research and the mariculture indicus) gave valuable information on their programmes. It was during his tenure that growth and migratory behaviour from tag cultured pearls from the pearl oyster Pinetada recoveries. Very significant was the recovery of [ueata were produced. The protocol for cultured P. indieus tagged offCochin and recovered after pearls using indigenous technology was 66 days from the Gulf of Mannar, off Manapad, standardised. about 400 km away. In the 1960s, the study of demersal fishery The euphoria over the assumedly limitless resources of the northwest coast based on catch capture fishery resources started crumbling with and effort over a period of time, gave us for the the collapse of the Peruvian anchovy fishery due first time, a detailed textual and illustrative to the £1 Nino phenomenon and ofthe North Sea account of the resources. For the firsttime, fishery mackerel and herring fisheries due to overfishing. oceanographic studies were conducted along the These and many other instances brought about west coast of India on board the R. V. Varuna of the need for alternate strategies to augment fish the erstwhile Indo-Norwegian Project, Cochill. production throug h discovering new fishing Deep-water surveys beyond the continental shelf grounds and resources, and utilising the normally along the upper continental slope enabled the discarded as well as underutilised and non­ discovery of many new resources and resource conventional resources. Besides this, the strategy complexes such as the deep-sea lobster and was to also develop coastal aquaculture and shrimp resources, deepwater fin-fishes, sharks mariculture. and crabs. Acoustic surveys were also conducted for the first time to locate uKalava grounds". Silas c. Coastal aquaculture and mariculture reported on the Deep Scattering Layer (DSL) and In the early 1970s, a major research effort its constituents in the Lakshadweep Sea. was made to develop coastal aquaculture (in Scientists were able to find a correlation between estuarine, coastal brackishwater lagoons and humidity, barometric pressure and mackerel wetlands) and mariculture (sea farming), though fishery. So also, it was found that there was a there was considerable scepticism as to whether . pivotal surface temperature at which mackerel the programmes would succeed and be viable in spawn. It was also shown that upwelling along the absence of any expertise. The assumption was the shelf waters ofthe west coast commenced as that it would be too expensive, considering early as February and was not induced. situations such as that which the Coca Cola got The decade of the 1960s showed the need for into after investing several million dollars in shrimp having an integrated approach while studying fanning, or the long duration of the culture of marine fishery resources, as fishery-indepen­ 'Kunna' shrimp (Penaeus japonicus) in Japan dent physico-chemical parameters play an (nearly 14- I 8 months), and the lack of information important role._The investigations conducted about captive hatchery breeding. during the exploratory fi shery surveys of the In view of the dwindling resources in capture northwest coast and continental shelf waters by fi sheries and the great demand in the export trade the Polish research vessel Maurena pointed to for shrimp, culturing shrimp was given high the limitations in demersal fishing ground priority. Within a year after the programme was resources, while finding untapped pelagic taken up, it was possible to mature and breed, at resources such as horse mackerel in sizeable the Narakkal (Cochin) farm of CMFRI, all the population. important penaeid species occurring along the

JOURNAL. BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 100(2& 3). AUG.-DEC. 2003 SIS FISHERIES RESEARCH IN INDIA southwest coast, namely Penaeus monodon, and other fi shes, crustaceans and pearl oysters P indicus and Metapenaeus dobsoni, and in including the black lip pearl oyster Pincrada Chennai. namely P semisulcatus and Pjaponicus. margratifera is going on. Procedures were standardised and after stocking In the culture of agar producing seaweed, in the ponds, it was possible to harvest the shrimp Graci/aria edulis, excellent results have been in 3-4 months. obtained in floating coir network in which The situation was in no way different for vegetative parts are implanted. other marine organisms. For instance, in the case of edible oyster Saccostrea madrasensis, after d. Centre of Advance Studies in Mariculture the mature oysters were induced to spawn and The newly started mari culture research after successful spat settlement and transfer of programmes of CMFRI in the 1970s was to some the spat to submerged racks, harvesting was done extent hampered by a lag in research, teaching and in 10 months. In the pearl oyster Pinctadafucata, trained manpower. The techno-economic feasibility after implantation of nucleus, good lustrous pearls of the projects taken up as well as the transfer of could be obtained in 6-8 months depending on technology and manning of hatchery and farm the size of the nucleus. Likewise in the case of operations, to the existing staff needed considerable mussels, Perna virdis and P. indica, in open sea reorientation and at the same time nurturing a new culture on ropes suspended from floating rafts, generation of scientists. In 1979, a Centre of the harvest was done in 4 months by which time Advanced Studies in Mariculrure was established ' 3-4 kg of seed implanted on a 7 -metre long rope at CMFRI, Cochin. It facilitated dozens ofscientists could yield 80 to 100 kg shell mussel; a single raft from the Institute to go abroad for training in of6 m x 10 m could take 12 or more ropes. In the . specialised subject areas such as fi sh and shrimp case of the spiny lobster P hamarus, through eye nutrition, reproductive physiology, fish genetics, ablation technique and feed, it was possible to endocrinology, fish and shellfish pathology, live obtain from juveniles ofJO to 40 g, a marketable feed cultures, hatchery technology, etc. size of! 00 g in IO months, and in P. amalus, from 200 g, 1.2 kg could be obtained in the same period. RESEARCH ON B RACK ISHWATER AQUACULTURE Fast growth was the case with all the fin fishes bred in the hatcheries and cultured in the farm, The recent research advances at CIBA are such as grouper Epinephelus rauvina, sea bass in the maturation, breeding and hatchery Lares calcari/er, mullets (Mugi/ spp.), pearl spot devel opment of penaeid shrimp. Specially £traplus suralensis, tilapia and other species. The formulated economical feeds with good eel Anguilla bengalensis took about a~ear from conversion efficiency have been developed for elver to marketable size with partial success of shrimp. Captive brood stock development of fin inducing maturation in the male. A good facility fishes such as Etroplus suratensis, Lafes for grouper culture has been developed at calcarifer and Mu g il cephalus has been Mandapam Camp. It is today possible to culture stream lined for technology transfer to fi sh furmers. the sea cucumbers Holothurto scabra and breed them. RESEARCH ON S HRIMP, FI SH AND SHELLFISH A special mention is needed about the P ATHOLOGY AND· DISEASE MANAGEMENT ongoing mariculture and research facilities at the Central Agricultural Research Institute at Port Diseases were a bane ofs hrimp aquaculture Blair, Andamans. Blessed with good quality sea in the 1990s and still continue to plague the water, active work on the breeding of ornamental industry. At least four diseases with proven viral

51 6 JOURNAL. BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 100(2&3), AUG.-DEC. 2003 FISHERlES RESEARCH IN INDIA etiology have been reported ITom India, namely, screen brood shrimp and shrimp seed before the White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV), stocking them in ponds and to monitor the grow­ Monodon Baculovirus (MBV), Hepatopancreatic out phase for viral and bacterial pathogens. A Parvo Virus (HPV) and Infectious new concept, involving stimulation of the shrimps' Hepatopancreatic and Lymphoid Organ Necrosis immunity termed' immunostimulation' has come (IHLN). Due to WSSV, there has been an annual up, as an alternative to vaccines against bacterial full of 10,000 to 15,000 t ofshrimp valued at Rs. 300 and viral diseases; the technology is being to Rs. 500 crore, or a cumulative loss of over developed and transferred to the industry by the Rs. 2,000 crore during the last 6-7 years. This has Microbiology Department, College of Fisheries, also affected the livelihood of a number of shrimp Mangalore. They also have a promising research farmers and has been a setback to the industry. progra~me on microorganisms antagonistic to This explains the reason for the number of national pathogens or with anti-vibrio activity organisations and universities involved in the (Pseudomonas strains). Bes ides this, some study of shrimp and fish pathology during the groups of biological and synthetic compounds last ten years. such as glucans are used to enhance the non­ specific defence mechanisms in shrimp. To RESEARCH ON FISH D ISEASES mitigate the disease problem and to enhance pond ecosystem, research on crop rotation as a health During the 1980s and 1990s, fish culture in management tool is underway. A new research most parts of India and natural fish populations approach at the College of Fisheries, Mangalore in rivers and lakes were seriously afflicted by has been the promotion of microbial film in ponds Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome (EUS), where the to enhance the quality of fish production. fish developed lesions on the body. CIFA, A considerable amount of reseafch for Bhubaneswar developed a medicine "Cifax®" to developing management strategies has been done control the disease. The Institute was also able to and is ongoing at the Department of Microbiology, suggest water quality standards to prevent the the UNESCO Centre for Marine Biotechnology, spread of the disease that badly affects carps, the Centre ofBioinformatics, and the Department catfishes, murrel and other fish. Vaccines are being of Aquaculture at this College, and at the Genetics developed using RFLP (Restriction Fragment and Biotechnology Division ofCIBA. Length Polymorphism) and PCR techniques. Research on immune response of Indian major FISH AND SHELLFISH TOXICITY carps to Aphanomyces invadens, the fungal . pathogen of EUS is ongoing. Marine toxins and harmful algal blooms seriously affect public health and fish and fishery DISEASE M ANAGEMENT products. There is a world watch on the occurrence of such harmful algal blooms that lead A mUlti-pronged approach is being adopted to shellfish toxicity and fatalities. Forthe first time to handle disease prevention and control in India, Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) was involving Chemoprophylaxis and Chemotherapy, reported ITom the west coast. The first record of vaccines, immunostimulants, probiotics, specific diarrhetic shellfish-toxin producing dinoflagellates pathogen-free (SPF) shrimp, specific pathogen was made ITom India and the PSP toxins were resistant (SPR) shrimp, high health shrimp, and analysed. The toxic alga (Gymnodinium development of genetically resistant stock. With nogasakiensis)-caused red tide and fish kills were new rapid diagnostic techniques, it is possible to reported from Someswar on the west coast oflndia.

JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURA L HISTORY SOCIETy' 100(2&3), AUG.-DEC. 2003 517 FISHERIES RESEARCH IN INDIA

A more recent outbreak of PSP has been recent innovation which has now been recorded from Vizhinjam, south Kerala, where over commercialised. CIFT has standardised 500 people were hospitalised and seven died. The specifications for the use of polypropylene multi­ Marine Science Department of the Cochin filament netting yam with lower specific gravity University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) and better tenacity than nylon. Research on fishing was designated as the nodal centre for India in gear has led to innovative concepts and designs the global network of the "Mussel Watch" for multipurpose gear such as the high opening Programme. A PCR-based detection method for trawl, high-speed demersal trawl, hybrid trawl, toxic dinoflagellates has been developed. In this bobbin trawl, large mesh trawl, rope trawl, semi­ background, a major national research programme pelagic trawl with flexible headline and lifting on Toxic Algal Blooms in the Indian Exclusive devices, and mini-purse seine. Economic Zone (EEZ), under the auspices of the More research has gone into the development Department ofOcean Development, Government of by-catch reduction devices such as the · radial oflndia, is underway at CUSAT, Cochin. escape device that facilitates escape of young and juvenile fish and by-catch from the trawl. The Turtle RESEARCH ON HARVEST AND POST-HARVEST Excluder Device (TED) has also been successfully TECHNOLOGIES field tested and incorporated in the trawl nets. The device permits cent per cent escape of turtles 1. FISHING TECHNOLOGY (Lepidochelys olivacea), and escape of fish and' Research on appropriate design of fishing . shrimp in the catch is as low as 1.2% and 0.62% crafts and gear was initiated from the very respectively. CIFThas also developed a new durable inception of the CIFT and today 90% of the lobster trap which is widely used. Research on the mechanised fishing vessels in the length range right type of packaging for fish products has led to 7.6 to 15.2 m are built on one of the 12 designs considerable improvements in the quality of the developed by the Institute. A steel fishing trawler products. An emerging new area is the live transport (15.5 m) has also been designed and is in of fish and crustaceans. commercial operation today. A fuel efficient nozzle propeller that reduces fuel consumption was also III. FISH PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY AND PRODUCT designed by the Institute. Various cost effective DEVELOPMENT protective measures against biodeterioration of A wide variety of value added individually wooden fishing vessels have been developed and quick frozen (IQF) products and specialised are in lise. A number of non-timber building products such as dehydrated jellyfish, bliche-de­ materials such as ferro-cement, ·fibreglass mer, high quality "maasmin" from tuna, fish wafers, reinforced plastic (FRP) and toxic non-plastic soup powders, battered and breaded products have composites have been tested as alternative boat been developed and commercialised. building materials. Cathodic protection of fishing Research on utilisation of fish products has boats and metallic marine structures with a been high on the agenda as fishery by-products galvanic ternary aluminium, free from mercury, has fmd application in several fields . A major thrust in been developed, and is eco-friendly, non­ this area was the development of many innovative polluting, cost effective and durable. programmes wh ich furthered international contacts of the Institute in the area of product development 11. FISHING GEAR and value addition. Chitin and chitosan from prawn The development of combination wire rope shell waste are two such products that have a wide as an import substitute for deep-sea fishing is a spectrum of uses. The uses ofchitin in broiler chick

518 JOURNAL. BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 100(2&3). AUG. ·DEC. 2003 FISHERIES RESEARCH IN INDIA

feed for weight gain, and for production of meteorological equipments. Besides, it has the glu.cosamine hydrochloride that has application in capability of operating fishing trawls at depths antibiotics and baby food fonnulations, are well up to 1,000 m. CMFRI was given the responsibility known. Chilosan has innumerable uses. Research of running the research programmes ofthis vessel. on fish collagen, prepared from fish air-bladders, The DOD has also established a new has led to a wide variety of uses. A new application Institute, the National In stitute of Ocean has been the preparation of collagen-chitosan film Technology (NIOT) to address specialised ocean which can be used as artificial skin for treatment of technology problems. Its facilities are also bums and also as a barrier device in dental surgery available for the marine fisheries research for Guided Tissue Regeneration (GTR) in cases of programmes. furcated gums. It is much superior to the presently Ever since '.Qperation Gangotri,' the First used teflon which needs surgery for removal after Indian Expedition to Antarctica was undertaken tissue regeneration. Absorbable surgical suture, a in December, 1981 under the leadership of S.Z. bio-product, so important for healing of wounds Qasim, and its first research station 'Dakshin after surgery has been developed from fish guts. Gangotri' established, India has been sending an The absorbable extra-fine sutures which are expedition consisting of multidisciplinary teams prepared from fish gut collagen by cross linking to Antarctica every year. The Commission for and polymer coating, have been found suitable even Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living for eye and other microsurgery. Resources (CCAMLR) manages the fishery and CIFT has also developed a procedure for conservation of the Antarctic marine ecosystem processing shark cartilage rich in chondriotin and krill. India is one ofthe 23 Member Countries sulphate into a clean, dry and attractive material of the Commission. that has application in medicine for treatment of The Antarctic Ocean supports biological arteriosclerosis, blood vessel thrombos'is and communities of a few species with large prevention of infection. populations, the most important of which, the The Institute has developed software for shrimp-like krill, regulates the food chain. The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), a Indian effort in studying the fishery resources of modem tool for implementation ofquality assurance the region was the First Indian Antarctic Kril ~ and safety in the seafood processing industry. Expedition conducted by DOD in the area 58" 56' _61 " 17' Sand30o-40° E. ROLE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF OCEAN DEVELOPMENT IN FISHERIES RESE ARC H AND THE DISSEMINATION OF RESEARCH RESULTS ANTARCTIC PROGRAMME The research results 'are published both in The Department of Ocean Development Indian and foreign scientific journals. The ICAR­ (DOD), Government of India from its inception in controlled fisheries research institutes have also . the early 1980s has played a major role in a nodal journal, The Indian Journal of Fisheries facilitating fisheries and oceanographic research published from CMFRI. Each institute has its own in the Indian EEZ as well as the contiguous high scientific association which also runs its own seas. It acquired a new Fishery Oceanographic scientific journal. Some of the Associations are Research Vesse/(FOR. V) Sagar Sampada, built very active and organise national and international in Denmark with all-weather ocean-going scientific meetings, symposia, seminars and capabilities and equipped with the most workshops and publish proceedings of these. sophisticated acoustic, oceanographic and The Institutes bring out a lot of extension

JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 100(2&3), AUO.-DEC. 2003 5 19 FISHERIES RESEARCH IN INDIA literature, especially for transfer of proven and Forests, Government of India. The ensuing technologies. dialogues and debates resulted in back pedalling and short-listing the number of species to nine, CONSERVATION OF MARINE LI VING RESOURCES though there is no justification for a ban on others AND M ARrNE HABITATS on the list. A silver lining, though, is the major funding from the Ministry of Environment and The international conferences and Forests for research on elasmobranch fisheries, conventions held in various parts of the world status of species and management issues, which is during the last few years have drawn attention to in the pipeline. the need for maintaining the marine biodiversity Fisheries research must help to tackle the and protection of marine habitats and endangered conflicts that we see today in marine capture species. A marine habitat such as the mangrove fi sheries and the maladies in coastal aquaculture. ecosystem is also a grow-out system for many Sharing common resources even within the species of marine fishes and crustaceans, and for territorial waters, the question of straddling stocks some species, a spawning area as well. If these and highly migratory pelagic fishes, restoring habitats are left unprotected, with human habitats and fi sh stocks to original sustainable depredation, recruitment to the fisheries gets levels through sound management strategies adversely affected. involving a participatory approach of the A recent happening forcefully draws stakeholders, and many other problems need to . attention to the need for sound research data in be addressed. A large infrastructure for fisheries order to provide scientific advice for making research and trained manpo~er has been built up management decisions that will also stand the test during the past three decades, and this has to be of jurisprudence. The case in question is the ban put to the best use in public interest. The focus, imposed on fishing of elasmobranch fishes (sharks, as mentioned by Anne Platt McGinn (quoted at skates and rays) which, for reasons unknown, were the beginning of this chapter), should be shifted placed under Schedule I under the Indian Wildlife from what is done to the fish to what can be done (Protection) Act by the Ministry of Environment for the fish. • • •

520 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 100(2&3), AUG.-DEC. 2003