Fisheries Centre The University of British Columbia Working Paper Series Working Paper #2015 - 75 Reconstruction of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (India) marine fish catch from 1950-2010 Claire Hornby, M. Arun Kumar, Brajgeet Bhathal, Daniel Pauly and Dirk Zeller Year: 2015 Email:
[email protected] This working paper is made available by the Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada. RECONSTRUCTION OF THE ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS ( I NDIA) MARINE FISH CATCH FROM 1950-2010 Claire Hornbya, M. Arun Kumarb, Brajgeet Bhathala, Daniel Paulya and Dirk Zellera aSea Around Us, Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada bDepartment of Ocean Studies and Marine Biology, Pondicherry University, Port Blair-744103, Andaman Islands
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[email protected] ABSTRACT The Andaman and Nicobar (A&N) Islands, a Union Territory of India, are a group of 572 islands located in the Bay of Bengal. The islands are fringed with some of the most spectacular and intact reefs in the Indian Ocean. Human settlement to the islands occurred in two waves, one thousands of years ago, the other mainly from mainland India and which began in the early 1950s. Fisheries have been slow to develop past subsistence levels. This study aims to reconstruct the total marine fish catch from 1950-2010. It was found that total catch by all sectors is 2.4 higher than the national landings of about 666,300t reported by India’s Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute on behalf of the A&N Islands.