Food and Agricultural Organization published “Food and gear loss from selected gill net and trammel net fisheries of India”.
The Central Institute of Fisheries Technology’s (CIFT) work on ‘Food and fishing gear loss’ — the first attempt from the country in the area of fishing gear loss — has got appreciation from the Food and Agricultural Organization and published by the world food body as “Food and gear loss from selected gill net and trammel net fisheries of India”.
This is the first work from India on assessment of abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) which is a major problem leading to “ghost fishing”.
It is estimated that around 6.40,000 tonnes of all fishing gear (approximately 10 per cent the total usage) is lost or discarded in the oceans annually, in bad weather or when nets get stuck to the rocky bottom.
The result was the outcome of a FAO-funded project on ‘Assessment of fish and gear loss from selected gill net and trammel net fisheries of India’ taken up by CIFT in October 2016 and the report of which was submitted in March 2018 on its successful completion.
The project was led by CIFT in collaboration with Integrated Coastal Management, Kakinada, said CN Ravishankar, Director, CIFT.
The published work presents information on the types, causes and levels of losses, as well as technological, social, environmental and policy options to reduce losses from fishing and post-harvest operations in selected gill net and trammel fisheries of the country.
A research team led by Saly N Thomas, Principal Scientist, CIFT, undertook the study collecting data from 12 locations and 583 fishing vessels across the country
