Fishing Technologies for Conservation of Marine Fish Genetic Resources

The advancements in fishing technologies over the years, had helped to significantly increase the fish production from the capture fisheries and has helped to improve the per capita consumption of fish. Increase in the fishing effort, use of unsustainable fishing gears and lack of proper monitoring and surveillance, combined with the climate related changes in the oceans, have caused serious declines of fisheries worldwide. The bycatch, discards and pollution are also becoming concern in several fisheries world over including India. Despite the fact that numerous measures, including gear-based technical measures, have been evaluated and mandated by law, the use and implementation of these measures in the field, remained largely negligible. Ecosystem-based approaches to fishing, reducing plastic pollution, spatial planning and creating biodiversity hotspots with no-take zones, strict regulations and effective implementation strategies, as well as a concerted effort to reduce the capacity of fisheries, are required for conservation of resources.