Some Aspects of Fisheries of Commercial Marine Fishes from the South-Western Region of Bangladesh

Abstract

The Sundarban Reserve Forest represents a transitional zone between fresh (supplied by river and streams) and marine water (from tidal creeks and the open sea). As such, it provides a habitat not only for freshwater and marine fishes, but also for diadromous species that migrate from one zone to another in order to complete their life cycle, e.g. Lates calcarifer, Tenualosa ilisha, etc. The actual number of species inhabiting the Sundarban Reserve Forest is not known. Most of the fishes are landed in landing center. The actual volume of species landed in landing center is not known. This could be due to the lack of adequate studies on landing data. The Sundarban Reserve Forest alone represents 1 to 5% of the total fish harvest of Bangladesh.Length-weight relation plays an important role in predicting population size and stock of fishes. Length-weight relationship and condition factor of Lates calcarifer, Pampus argenteus, Lisa parsia and Metapenaeus monoceros were studied by using 1268 specimens. The estimated equation on length-weight relationship for the four commercially important species of the fishes were found to be: Lates calcalifer (Vetki): Log BW = 0.80 + 1.457 Log TL. Pampus argenteus (Rupchanda): Log BW = -1.043 + 2.75 Log TL. Liza parsia (Parsia): Log BW = -2.339 + 3.585 Log TL and Metapenaeus monoceros (Hanna chingi): Log BW = -1.607 + 2.90 Log TL. In fish landing center, fish and shrimp are transported through waterway. During fishing season, fishing is conducted by craft and gear. So, craft and gear play an important role for development of fisheries sectors. Round the year, about 260 numbers of fishing craft in four fish landing centers are examined depending on various factors (length, depth, capacity, width, fishermen, etc.).