Depleted and Collapsed Marine FishStocks along Southwest Coast ofIndia – A Simple Criterion to Assessthe Status

India’s marine fishery has grown from a subsistence level to an industrial one. From a meagre 0.6 million tonnes in 1950s it has crossed 3.0 million tonnes in 2008. Kerala, and to a lesser extent, Karnataka have been the major contributors to the marine fish production of the country (having 12% of the total coastline and contributing 30-35% of the production). Mechanization of the fishing fleets has focussed increased effort on the fish stocks in the region (southwest coast), and consequently, many stocks are not as abundant as they were before. The intense exploitation of commercial marine species along these coasts has reportedly led to threats of species loss. So far no comprehensive study has been made to assess the health of Indian marine fish stocks with respect to depletion and collapse, and therefore, no restoration or stock rebuilding plans are available. Most of the world’s most valuable fish stocks are either fully exploited or overexploited (FAO, 2007). The 25% of the stocks that remain underexploited tend to comprise of low-value species.