The emerging purse seine fishery for anchovy (whitebait) resources of the west coast of India

One of the most significant developments in the marine fisheries sector, in recent years is the large Scale introduction of purse seine fleets along the coasts of kamataka and kerala, for the commercial Exploitation of pelagic fish resources. This development may be considered as significant as the introduction of mechanized trawling in late fifties in indian waters for the exploitation of shrimp resources. It is, therefore, necessary to redeploy the purse seiners engaged in whitebait fishery, at the major centers spread over karnataka coast and to develop simultaneously at those bases infrastructure facilties capable of handling, storing, processing and marketing, realising the full potential of the purse seine fishery, in order to obtain remunerative prices for the huge whitebait catches landed during a short period of about three months.