Monsoon fishery of juvenile ginger prawns at Little Rann of Kutch,Gujarat in relation to environmental parameters

Abstract

Juveniles of ginger prawn, Metapenaeus kutchensis (George, George and Rao, 1963), form monsoon fishery in shallowestuarine waters of the Little Rann of Kutch. The catch data were collected from Tikar, Mandrakhi, Cherowari and Surajbarilanding centres during 2004 to 2009. The annual average catch was 2406 t, of which the bulk was contributed by Mandrakhiand Tikar. The catch correlated well with the amount of rainfall (r = 0.97). The length-weight relationships were expressedas: Log W = -2.367 + 3.1204 log TL for males (r = 0.81) and Log W = -2.868 + 3.7098 log TL for females (r = 0.88). All thewater quality parameters including ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen and phosphate phosphorus were within safe limitsand congenial for growth of ginger prawn juveniles and post-larvae. The water and sediment bacteriology revealed that bothproteolytic and lipolytic bacteria were present in considerable quantities for efficient recycling. The chemical and biologicalparameters of water apart from monsoon rains, appear to contribute to the rapid growth of this species from post-larvae tojuveniles.