International Journal of Aquaculture, 2018, Vol.8, No.8, 53-64
53
Research Article Open Access
Landings of IUCN Red Listed Finfishes at Three Major Fishing Harbours of
South West Coast of India
Vincent P.D., Soumya Krishnankutty, Ajith Joseph C., A.A. Mohamed Hatha
Department of Marine Biology, Microbiology and Biochemistry, School of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Lakeside Campus,
Cochin, Kerala, India
Corresponding author Email
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2018, Vol.8, No.8 doi
Received: 07 Mar., 2018
Accepted: 27 Mar., 2018
Published: 13 Apr., 2018
Copyright © 2018
Vincent et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Vincent P.D., Soumya K., Ajith J.C., and Mohamed Hatha A.A., 2018, Landings of IUCN Red Listed finfishes at three major fishing harbours of south west
coast of India, International Journal of Aquaculture, 8(8): 53-64 (doi
Abstract
The study is aimed at the systematic representation of IUCN Red Listed marine finfish landings along three major fishing
harbours; Neendakara (Kollam), Munambam (Kochi) and Beypore (Kozhikode). Collections were carried out seasonally and harbour
visits were made on fortnightly basis during 2014 to 2015. Of the 206 species recorded from the landing centres, 73 were listed under
IUCN Red List. A checklist of finfishes along with their scientific names and common names, an endemism was prepared. Those
listed under IUCN Red List, different schedules of the Indian wild life (Protection) Act and the appendices of Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of wild flora and fauna were also presented.
Keywords
IUCN Red List; Endangered species; CITES
Background
Being a tropical country, India is blessed with a rich diversity of flora and fauna and put among the mega
biodiversity countries of the world, however, with a fragile ecosystem (Yadav, 1997). As a result of increasing
anthropogenic activities, marine ecosystems are currently facing an accelerated loss of populations and species,
with unknown consequences (Worm et al., 2006). There is mounting concern toward the expanding human impact
on marine biodiversity that has occurred in the course recent years (Jackson, 2010). The conservation status of
species and the regional Red Lists are prepared by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
According to the classification of IUCN, the species were grouped into nine based on population size, the rate of
population decline, the area of geographic distribution, the degree of population and distribution fragmentation.
The groups are Extinct (EX), Extinct in the wild (EW), Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN), Vulnerable
(VU), Near Threatened (NT), Least Concern (LC), Data Deficient (DD), Not Evaluated (NE) (Guidelines for
Using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, 2017). According to IUCN (1996), the formally stated goals of
the Red List are (1) to provide scientifically based information on the status of species and subspecies at a global
level, (2) to draw attention to the magnitude and importance of threatened biodiversity, (3) to influence national
and international policy and decision-making, and (4) to provide information to guide actions to conserve
biological diversity (CITES, 2000).
Kerala lies at south west coast of India bordered west by the Arabian Sea. Kerala has a coastline of about 590 km
and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) extends up to 200 nautical miles far beyond the continental shelf, which
covers an area of 218,536 km
2
(Kerala Marine Fisheries Statistics, 2013). Kerala coast has major fisheries of the
shrimps, cuttlefish, sardines, mackerels, anchovies, soles, sharks, rays etc. The present study has been carried out
as a part of research project on “Marine Biodiversity along Kerala coast”, funded by Ministry of Earth Sciences,
through Centre for Marine Living Resource and Ecology. Among the various species landed, we have made a
survey of IUCN Red Listed species and the findings of the same are reported in this manuscript.
1 Materials and Methods
1.1 Study area
For the present study, we have selected three major fish landing centres of south west coast of India namely
