Fisheries enhancement and biodiversity assessment of fish, prawn and mud crab in Chilika lagoon through hydrological intervention

Published source details Mohapatra A., Mohanty R.K., Mohanty S.K., Bhatta K.S. & Das N.R. (2007) Fisheries enhancement and biodiversity assessment of fish, prawn and mud crab in Chilika lagoon through hydrological intervention. Wetlands Ecology and Management, 15, 229-251.
Share Tweet Email

Actions

This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Restore coastal lagoons Action Link

Restore coastal lagoons

A before-and-after study in 1996–2004 in a degraded lagoon connected to the Bay of Bengal, east coast of India (Mohapatra et al. 2007) found that, four years after restoring its hydrology, crustacean species richness decreased, but abundance of commercially valued crustaceans increased. There were reductions in the number of prawn species (before: 24; after: 18 but four were new) and crab species (before: 28; after: 14 but seven were new), and an increase in lobster species (before: 0; after: 2). Abundance (as four-year averages of commercial landings) increased by 1,200% for prawns (before: 187; after: 2,430 t), and 1,135% for crabs (before: 10; after: 130 t). No commercial landings were reported for lobsters. Authors report that increases in landings were correlated with increases in salinity after restoration. The ecological status of the Chilika lagoon declined throughout the 20^th century. In 2000, channels were dredged or extended to increase connections to the sea and rivers and improve the hydrology. Data were obtained from Orissa state Department of Fisheries for 1996–2000 (pre-restoration), and by the authors for 2000–2004 (post-restoration), following the same sampling methods. Thirty-four landings centres were visited monthly and prawn and crab catches, including the commercially valued species Penaeus monodon, Penaeus indicus, Metapenaeus monoceros, Metapenaeus dobsoni, Macrobrachium sp. and Scylla sp., were recorded (see study for details).

(Summarised by: Anaëlle Lemasson)