Abstract:
Studies on the seine fishery of Negombo Lagoon in the west coast of
Sri Lanka (7°10' Nand 79°50' E) were carried out for a period of one year
from May 1989 to April 1990. In the operation of this gear, 2 or 4 standard
nets, each with a length of 32 m are used. Each net was made up of 4 or 5
vertically joined pieces of nets, with a stretched mesh size of 1.25 em. 3 and 5
men are involved in 2 net and 4 net operations respectively. Total production
from this gear was estimated to be around 36,000 kg/year. During the present
study, 82 species of fish ranging in size from 2.5 em to 130.0 em were encountered
together with 6 species of commercially important penaeid prawns. The
catch and fishing effort were low from August to December. Catch per unit
effort was high from February to May. Salinity and fish catch showed a
significant positive correlation probably due to immigration of allochthonous
marine organisms into the lagoon with increasing salinity. Fishing effort
also showed a significant positive correlation with salinity. Significant difference
between the catches of 4 net-piece and 5 net-piece nets was not observed
(P>0.05). Although the catch and catch per fisherman were significantly higher
in 4 net operations than in 2 net operations (P <0.05), significant difference
in catch per net between the two operations was not observed (P > 0.05). 2 Net
operations were observed to provide more employment opportunities and
better distribution of income than 4 net operations. Threat of overexploitation
of the resource was observed to be high in 4 net operations.
