Decadal Shift in Fish Landings and Catch Composition in Brahmaputra River, Assam, India
Anil Kumar Yadav*
ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute Regional Centre, Guwahati, Assam (781 006), India
Simanku Borah
ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute Regional Centre, Guwahati, Assam (781 006), India
Birendra Kumar Bhattacharjya
ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute Regional Centre, Guwahati, Assam (781 006), India
Kishore Kumar Das
Dept. of Statistics, Gauhati University, Guwahati, Assam (781 034), India
Basanta Kumar Das
ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore, Kolkata, West Bengal (700 120), India
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54083/ResBio/4.3.2022/132-138
Keywords: Brahmaputra, Catch composition, Fish landings, Hilsa, Indian major carps
Abstract
Analysis of long-term (1987-2019) fish landing data showed that an average 191.93 t year-1 of fish landed at Uzanbazar (Guwahati) landing center of River Brahmaputra. The total landings registered peak landings of 471.8 t in 2002 and thereafter it declined to the lowest levels of 84.06 t in 2016. Fish landings suffered changes in the qualitative and quantitative aspects of River Brahmaputra fishery in Assam. Whereas average total landings during last decade declined by almost 60% as compared to the average landings of 234.97 t year-1 in the previous two decades (1987-2009), the contribution of Indian major carps (IMC) and minor carps towards total landings declined from 17.54% and 35.11% during 1987-2009 to only 4.86% and 8.94%, respectively during 2010-2019. Miscellaneous fishes group emerged as dominant group contributing 58.28% of the average landings in last decade (54.30 t year-1) compared to 69.38 t year-1 during 1987-2009. Average landing of catfishes also decreased from 26.96 t year-1 in 1987-2009 to 19.77 t year-1 in 2010-2019, but percentage contribution increased from 11.47% to 21.28% over decades. Similarly, average landings of Hilsa declined from 8.24 t year-1 to 3.42 t year-1 but percentage contribution remained unchanged over the period. Such changes can be partly ascribed to climate change, habitat modification, over exploitation and other anthropogenic causes. The sharp decline in IMC landings as well as changes in landing composition from the river due to these alterations in the last decade is directly affecting the livelihood of the fishermen community.
Downloads
not found
Reference
Bhattacharjya, B.K., Bhaumik, U., Sharma, A.P., 2017. Fish habitat and fisheries of Brahmaputra River in Assam, India. Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management 20(1-2), 102-115. DOI: 10.1080/14634988.2017.1297171.
Bhattacharjya, B.K., Yadav, A.K., Debnath, D., Saud, B.J., Verma, V.K., Yengkokpam, S., Sarkar, U.K., Das, B.K., 2021. Effect of extreme climatic events on fish seed production in Lower Brahmaputra Valley, Assam, India: Constraint analysis and adaptive strategies. Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management 24(3), 39-46. DOI: 10.14321/aehm.024.03.06.
Borah, S., Das, P., Yadav, A.K., Bhattacharjya, B.K., Das, B.K., 2022a. Enhancing income of small scale tribal fishers of Charan beel, Assam through culture-based fisheries and pen culture: A participatory approach. Biotica Research Today 4(6), 23-26.
Borah, S., Bhattacharjya, B.K., Das, P., Yadav, A.K., Das, B.K., Sarkar, U.K., 2022b. Exploring the potential of culture-based fisheries for augmenting income of tribal fishers: A success story from Assam. Indian Farming 72(07), 392-394.
Borah, S., Sarkar, U.K., Das, P., Yadav, A.K., Puthiyottil, M., Pame, D., Bhattacharjya, B.K., Das, B.K., 2022c. Managing floodplain wetlands through culture-based fisheries (CBF) for livelihood security and sustainable development: A study from a biodiversity hotspot region of India. Arabian Journal of Geosciences 15(14), 1-13. DOI: 10.1007/s12517-022-10524-5.
Borah, S., Das, P., Bhattacharjya, B.K., Yadav, A.K., Saud, B.J., Das, B.K., 2020. A report on the occurrence of Bangana dero (Hamilton, 1822) from Deepor beel (Ramsar site no. 1207), Brahmaputra valley, Assam. Journal of Applied and Natural Science 12(2), 202-206. DOI: 10.31018/jans.v6i.2288.
Borah, S., Gogoi, P., Bhattacharjya, B.K., Suresh, V.R., Yadav, A.K., Baitha, R., Koushlesh, S.K., Kakati, A., Ray, B.C., Das, B.K., 2018. Length-weight and length-length relationship of two endemic snakehead fish species from Brahmaputra river basin, Assam, India. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 34(3), 788-790. DOI: 10.1111/jai.13685.
Borah, S., Landge, A.T., Bhattacharjya, B.K., Chakraborty, S.K., Ramteke, K.K., Barman, J., Bhagawati, K., Saud, B.J., 2014. Variation in morphometric and meristic traits of Aspidoparia morar from Brahmaputra and Barak Rivers of Assam, India. Journal of Applied and Natural Science 6(1), 262-266. DOI: 10.31018/jans.v6i1.412.
Chutia, S.J., Yashwanth, B.S., Baruah, A.K., Kashyap, A., Chetia, B.R., Nath, B.B., Choudhury, A., Rathlavath, S., Borah, S. and Chripsin, C.L., 2018. Trends in fish production of Assam: An analysis. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences 7(11), 3417-3422. DOI: 10.20546/ijcmas.2018.711.392.
Cleveland, W.S., 1979. Robust locally weighted regression and smoothing scatter plots. Journal of the American Statistical Association 74, 829-836.
Cleveland, W.S., Devlin, S.J., 1998. Locally weighted regression: An approach to regression analysis by local fitting. Journal of the American Statistical Association 83, 596-610.
Das, P., Borah, S., Yadav, A.K., Bhattacharjya, B.K., Das, B.K., 2022. Culture-based fisheries and pen culture technologies enhanced income of tribal fishers in Bamuni Beel, Assam. Biotica Research Today 4(4), 255-258.
Das, P., Borah, S., Yadav, A.K., Bhattarcharjya, B.K., Das, B.K., 2018. Open-water fisheries of Assam and strategies for its development. Fishing Chimes 38 (1&2), 17-28.
Das, P., Bhattacharjya, B.K., Yadav, A.K., Debnath, D., Yengkokpam, S., Sarma, K.K., Gogoi, P., Sharma, N., Borah, S., Kakati, A., Ray, B.C., Das, B.K., 2017. Impact of fish stock enhancement through in-situ raising of stunted carp fingerlings in pens on fish production. In: Fostering Innovations in Fisheries and Aquaculture: Focus on Sustainability and Safety - Book of Abstracts. (Eds.) Thomas, S.N., Rao, M.B., Madhu, V.R., Asha, K.K., Bisni, P.K., Viji, P., Sajesh, V.K., Jha, P.N. 11th Indian Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum, ICAR-CIFT, Kochi, India. p. 228.
Debnath, D., Saud, B.J., Bhattacharjya, B.K., Yengkokpam, S., Yadav, A.K., 2015. Perceived and probable impact of climate change on fisheries ecology of River Brahmaputra in Assam, India. Fishing Chimes 34(12), 48-51.
Jha, D.N., Alam, A., Das, S.C.S., Thakur, V.R., Kumar, J., Gupta, M., Srivastava, R.S., Das, B.K., 2020. Chronological variation in landing of Indian Major Carp (IMC) of Ganga River. World Water Policy 6(1), 142-151. DOI: 10.1002/wwp2.12027.
SAS, 2002. SAS User’s Guide. Statistical Analysis Systems, Cary, North Carolina. p. 112.
Trexler, J.C., Travis, J., 1993. Non-traditional regression analyses. Ecology 74(6), 1629-1637. DOI: 10.2307/1939921.
Vass, K.K., Das, M.K., Srivastava, P.K., Dey, S., 2009. Assessing the impact of climate change on inland fisheries in River Ganga and its plains in India. Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management 12(2), 138-151. DOI: 10.1080/14634980902908746.
Vass, K.K., Moza, U., 2011. Riverine fisheries. In: Handbook of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. pp. 169-207.
Yadav, A.K, 2022. Application of statistical tools for analyzing fish catches in river Brahmaputra with special emphasis on time-series modelling. Ph.D. (Statistics) Thesis, Gauhati University, Guwahati, India. p. 193.
Yadav, A.K., Borah, S., Das, K.K., Raman, R.K., Das, P., Das, B.K., 2022. Modeling of Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) landings in the lower stretch of River Brahmaputra, Assam, India under time-series framework. ScienceAsia 48, 367-372. DOI: 10.2306/scienceasia1513-1874.2022.042.
Yadav, A.K., Das, K.K., Borah, S., Das, P., Bhattacharjya, B.K., Das, B.K., 2021. Impact of fish stock enhancement on fish yield of floodplain wetlands in different agro-climatic zones of Assam, India. Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management 24(4), 54-63. DOI: 10.14321/aehm.024.04.08.
Yadav, A.K., Das, K.K., Das, P., Raman, R.K., Kumar, J., Das, B.K., 2020. Growth trends and forecasting of fish production in Assam, India using ARIMA model. Journal of Applied and Natural Science 12(3), 415-421. DOI: 10.31018/jans.v12i3.2353.