Research Article Open Access

Volume 2 • Issue 4 • 1000110J Marine Sci Res DevISSN:2155-9910 JMSRD an open access journal

Open AccessResearch Article

Marine ScienceResearch & Development

Varadharajan and Soundarapandian, J Marine Sci Res Dev 2012, 2:4http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2155-9910.1000110

*Corresponding author: D. Varadharajan, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Annamalai University, Parangipettai-608 502, Tamil Nadu, India, E-mail: heartvaradhan@gmail.com

Received May 08, 2012; Accepted August 18, 2012; Published August 24, 2012

Citation: Varadharajan D, Soundarapandian P (2012) Commercially Important Crab Fishery Resources from Arukkattuthurai to Pasipattinam, South East Coast of India. J Marine Sci Res Dev 2:110. doi:10.4172/2155-9910.1000110

Copyright: © 2012 Varadharajan D, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Commercially Important Crab Fishery Resources from Arukkattuthurai to Pasipattinam, South East Coast of IndiaD. Varadharajan* and P. Soundarapandian

Faculty of Marine Sciences, Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Annamalai University, Parangipettai-608 502, Tamil Nadu, India

Keywords: Crab; P. pelagicus; P. sanguinolentus; Resource; Arukkattuthurai; Pasipattinam

IntroductionFishery resources are renewable living resources that demand

judicious exploitation for obtaining sustainable yields. The crustacean fisheries of India have been assumed significant in recent years. The marine crustaceans found along the Indian coasts, crabs rank third after shrimps and lobsters by virtue of importance as an esteemed seafood delicacy and also by the value of fishery they support. The haemolymph of the crab provides a valuable medical product critical to maintaining the safety of many drugs and devices used in medical care. Fresh and nutritious seafood of crab is always the spirit for various delicious dishes. Crabs are serving either as live, fresh, boiled, steamed, chilled, fried or baked and considered as popular dishes in many restaurants. Moreover, many crabs can serve as feed for fish cultures for turtles and domestic birds and other animals [1]. In duck farms, food mixed with crab powder not only stimulates growth of the ducks, but also raise their spawning rate. The data on the crab landings is essential to make out the contribution of crabs to the Indian economy. The area from different coast is supplying a significant quantity of seafood for the state, yet there is no comprehensive information on crab catches from this region, as they are very much useful for the development of marketing, management, research, export and policy making. Various authors have dealt with fishing methods and the landing of crabs from different parts in Indian coasts. [2,3] reported commercial fishing of crabs from Bombay waters. [4,5] have reported on the crab fishery from Goa. Reports on crab fishing and fishery were also available from Karnataka [6], Kerala [7], Tamil Nadu [8-10], Andhrapradesh [11] and Orissa [12]. From the previous crab landing reports the crab population is declining every year. So crab fishery resource study is essential to improve the population of the respective areas. Hence the present study was aimed to assess the crab fishery resources from Arukkattuthurai to Pasipattinam in south east coast of India for a period of one year.

Materials and Methods Crabs were surveyed in different landing centres to estimate

the landing of this important edible species in the Palk Bay coast of south east coast of India (Plates 3a-3e). The following stations were selected for the present study; Arukkattuthurai (St1), Pointcalimere

(St2), Muthupettai (St3), Adirampattinam (St4), Mallipattinam (St5), Sethubavachatram (St6), Kattumavadi (St7), Manamelkudi (St8), Jegathapattinam (St9) and Pasipattinam (St10). The study was made from January 2010 to December 2010. In this study, weight in 5 grams accuracy was taken individually for males, females and berried females. For the purpose of crab catch estimation the observation of crab landings and counting of baskets was taken into consideration. The availability of the berried crabs was also recorded from the total crabs landed during the study period. The methodology for the above study is carried out by following the method of [10].

ResultsThe individual male, female and berried crabs were reported

uniformly maximum in Mallipattinam and minimum in Pasipattinam (Mallipattinam > Manamelkudi > Jegathapattinam> Sethubavachatram> Pointcalimere> Arukkattuthurai> Muthupettai> Adirampattinam> Kattumavadi> Pasipattinam) (Tables 1-3). However total landing of male (48976 kg), female (38745 kg) and berried (16533 kg) crabs were recorded maximum in Mallipattinam. Similarly male (23932 kg), female (16087) and berried (5418) crabs were minimum in Pasipattinam. Total crabs were also followed similar trend as individual crabs (Table 4). Among 12 crab species reported P. pelagicus (16529.8 kg) was maximum and C.truncata (18371.28 kg) was minimum for all sexes. Among various stations crabs were landed maximum in Mallipattinam (104254 kg) and minimum in Pasipattinam (45437 kg) (Tables 1-5). The crabs landed in various stations showed significant difference (Table 6).

AbstractThe documentation of crab landings especially commercially important crabs are need of the hour to get clear

picture about total landings of crabs and also their seasonal availability for better management. So it is attempted to record the individual as well as total crab landings from Arukkattuthurai to Pasipattinam. The individual male, female and berried crabs were reported uniformly maximum in Mallipattinam and minimum in Pasipattinam (Mallipattinam > Manamelkudi > Jegathapattinam > Sethubavachatram > Pointcalimere > Arukkattuthurai > Muthupettai > Adirampattinam > Kattumavadi > Pasipattinam). However total landings of male (48976 kg), female (38745 kg) and berried (16533 kg) crabs were recorded maximum in Mallipattinam. However male (23932 kg), female (16087) and berried (5418) crabs were minimum in Pasipattinam. Among 12 crab species reported P. pelagicus (165297.8 kg) was maximum and C.truncata (18371.28 kg) was minimum for all sexes. Among various stations crabs were landed maximum in Mallipattinam (104254 kg) and minimum in Pasipattinam (45437 kg).

Citation: Varadharajan D, Soundarapandian P (2012) Commercially Important Crab Fishery Resources from Arukkattuthurai to Pasipattinam, South East Coast of India. J Marine Sci Res Dev 2:110. doi:10.4172/2155-9910.1000110

Page 2 of 6

Volume 2 • Issue 4 • 1000110J Marine Sci Res DevISSN:2155-9910 JMSRD an open access journal

Discussion and ConclusionFisheries in India, particularly marine fisheries have shown a

tremendous progress in recent times. Fluctuations have been noticed in the marine fish landings from year to year and these are due to fishery

independent factors such as salinity, temperature and current and also fishery dependent factors such as rate of exploitation, season of exploitation and size exploited. The crustaceans are not only important scavengers of the sea but also valuable food for fishes. The data collected

S:No Crabs St 1 St 2 St 3 St 4 St 5 St 6 St 7 St 8 St 9 St 10 Total1 Scylla serrata 4585 4055 2481 3477 7946 3726 2651 2073 2777 1904 356752 S.tranquebarica 2841 2938 2777 3144 8022 4961 2348 5092 3754 1695 37571.63 Portunus pelagicus 5116 6778 5773 6005 9949 8089 7325 14043 7658 6610 773464 P.sanguinolentus 3506 5021 5162 4494 7864 7888 5055 11452 8063 3409 61913.75 P.gladiator 1361 1857 1140 1092 2195 1608 1330 821.2 1786 1266 14456.16 Podophthalmus vigil 1175 2342 1972 1170 1874 2297 541.3 3050 1665 1154 17240.17 Charybdis feriata 1161 2467 1795 1119 2663 1872 1122 3161 1902 1375 18637.48 C.natator 1801 2591 1016 1892 2685 953 1575 2153 1865 1074 17604.89 C.lucifera 1619 1793 676.6 1586 1779 769.6 1539 1908 1301 1297 14267.710 C.variegata 1629 2654 643.4 1193 1432 606.2 963.4 1801 1387 1332 13640.811 C.granulata 1570 1582 1006 1310 1319 381.2 1029 1526 1837 1498 13058.612 C.truncata 664.6 1261 714 620.8 1249 1319 700.2 1433 1020 217 9218.8 Total 27029 35340 25157 27103 48976 33389 26179 48512 35014 23932 330631

(St 1-Arukkattuthurai, St 2- Pointcalimere, St 3-Muthupettai, St 4- Adirampattinam, St 5- Mallipattinam, St 6-Sethubavachatram, St 7-Kattumavadi,St 8- Manamelkudi, St 9- Jegathapattinam, St 10-Pasipattinam)

Table 1: Total male crabs (Kg) landed from different stations during January 2010 to December 2010.

(St1-Arukkattuthurai, St2- Pointcalimere, St3-Muthupettai, St4- Adirampattinam, St5- Mallipattinam, St6-Sethubavachatram, St7-Kattumavadi, St8- Manamelkudi, St9- Jegathapattinam, St10-Pasipattinam)

Table 2: Total female crabs (Kg) landed from different stations during January 2010 to December 2010.

S:No Crabs St 1 St 2 St 3 St 4 St 5 St 6 St 7 St 8 St 9 St 10 Total1 Scylla serrata 4707 2701 1648 2554 3313 3605 1626 1400 2649 1674 258762 S.tranquebarica 2851 2782 2773 2551 3696 4465 2550 4847 2698 1566 307793 Portunus pelagicus 5410 5814 5592 5432 10758 6936 6533 7641 7711 3019 648464 P.sanguinolentus 3804 3644 3799 3692 7858 6502 3908 10672 4043 3291 512125 P.gladiator 1123 1068 1363 771 1711 1380 1008 1143 1322 483.2 113726 Podophthalmus vigil 867.6 1877 1740 804.7 1983 1437 332.5 3717 1624 1025 154087 Charybdis feriata 428.9 1977 1591 1010 4265 1464 1023 1392 2016 768.5 159358 C.natator 1074 2065 585 765.2 1472 655 928 1519 1439 838 113409 C.lucifera 1143 1851 463 947.7 1489 494.7 1204 861.3 1319 572.9 1034610 C.variegata 633.4 1958 570.6 1047 1197 512.5 743.7 2350 1939 945.5 1189711 C.granulata 1058 1472 576 945.1 585 322.8 846.6 1812 1344 1498 1045912 C.truncata 629 1210 313 587 418 407 510.1 664.8 1022 223.2 5984.1

Total 23729 28419 21013 21107 38745 27997 19238 38018 29126 16087 263479

(St 1-Arukkattuthurai, St 2- Pointcalimere, St 3-Muthupettai, St 4- Adirampattinam,St 5- Mallipattinam, St 6-Sethubavachatram, St 7-Kattumavadi, St 8- Manamelkudi,St 9- Jegathapattinam, St 10-Pasipattinam)

Table 3: Total Berried crabs (Kg) landed from different stations during January 2010 to December 2010.

S:No Crabs St 1 St 2 St 3 St 4 St 5 St 6 St 7 St 8 St 9 St 10 Total1 Scylla serrata 2529 1237 872 915 1202 1516 691 259.2 1074 358.3 106542 S. tranquebarica 1496 935.1 705 975 1482 2551 1043 994.7 1471 714 123673 Portunus pelagicus 1769 1279 1655 1658 6753 2515 1784 2356 1982 1355 231064 P.sanguinolentus 2076 1053 1500 1630 2534 2402 970.5 2005 2625 909.6 177045 P.gladiator 1290 471.6 444 443.1 766.3 994.2 440 354.7 674.7 190.6 6069.26 Podophthalmus vigil 458.5 779 665.2 359.5 765.2 1112 391 784.7 814.2 338.5 6467.77 Charybdis feriata 297.1 931.4 1565 393.9 1121 590 452 551.9 1008 319.5 7229.78 C.natator 460.6 832.6 927 383 590.6 340.4 483 363.4 1015 246 5641.69 C.lucifera 1116 750.6 635 459.3 427.9 289.5 485 323.5 631.9 240.6 5359.510 C.variegata 349 761.1 500.1 454.4 462.8 246 335.6 535.9 663.6 327.1 4635.611 C.granulata 461.2 624 676.5 368.9 266.3 207.9 529 301.3 709.4 164 4308.512 C.truncata 269.4 446.9 397.5 264 161.7 256 302 534.2 415.4 121.8 3168.4 Total 12571 10101 10542 8304 16533 12885 7144 9364 13085 5418 105947

Citation: Varadharajan D, Soundarapandian P (2012) Commercially Important Crab Fishery Resources from Arukkattuthurai to Pasipattinam, South East Coast of India. J Marine Sci Res Dev 2:110. doi:10.4172/2155-9910.1000110

Page 3 of 6

Volume 2 • Issue 4 • 1000110J Marine Sci Res DevISSN:2155-9910 JMSRD an open access journal

on landings of crabs contributing directly to support the mankind. Fisherman used different kinds of fishing gears to collect crabs such as crab nets, singhi valai, sembara valai, meen valai, koi valai, veral valai and oda valai. The trawl nets operated by mechanised boats and other powered vessels also bring appreciable amounts of crabs with other fishes all along the coastal waters [7]. In Indian coast commercial crab population is being overexploited has led to research on the life history, habitat requirements and population dynamics of this species [13]. To date, these factors and the overall health of the population have been poorly understood. Under these assumptions it is clear that though absolute estimates may vary over the period, the respective percentage contributions are expected to remain more or less the same [14].

Totally 12 (S. serrata, S. tranquebarica, P. pelagicus, P. sanguinolentus, P. gladiator, P. vigil, C. feriata, C. natator, C. lucifera, C. variegata, C. granulata and C. truncata) commercially important crabs were recorded in all stations of the present study. The crab species recorded was belonging to the family Portunidae includes the genera Scylla, Portunus, Charybdis and Podophthalmus. As in the present study, commercially important

crab landings were already reported by different authors [10,15] in south east coast India. Tamil Nadu tops the list in crab landings all over India and the coastal belt from Tuticorin to Mallipattinam has been proven as the strongest potential of edible sea crabs [10,16]. In the present study not only total contribution of the crabs but also individual contributions of crabs were maximum in Mallipattinam than other stations. The total annual crab landings of the Parangipettai was 79,445.6 kg and Palk straight was 3, 88,196.032 kg as reported by [10,17] respectively. The total crabs landed in the present study are 7, 00057 kg, which is relative by more than last year as reported by [18]. The crab landings varied in the past two decades are due to many reasons [18]. Landing is abundant in some areas in India is due to large number of trawl operations. The important mechanised fishing centre is Mallipattinam, Sethubavachatram and Jegathapattinam but in other stations the fisherman using only the fiber boat, catamaran and small boats [19]. The number of mechanised trawling boats owned by local fishermen at Mallipattinam, Sethubavachatram and Jegathapattinam are 137, 82 and 118 respectively. This may be the reason for landing of crabs are maximum in Mallipattinam followed by Manamelkudi and Jegathapattinam.

Table 4: Total (Kg) male, female and berried female crabs landed from different stations during January 2010 to December 2010.

S.No Stations Male Female Berried Total1 Arukkattuthurai 27029 23729 12571 633292 Pointcalimere 35340 28419 10101 738603 Muthupettai 25157 21013 10542 567124 Adirampattinam 27103 21107 8304 565145 Mallipattinam 48976 38745 16533 1042546 Sethubavachatram 33389 27997 12885 742717 Kattumavadi 26179 19238 7144 525618 Manamelkudi 48512 38018 9364 958949 Jegathapattinam 35014 29126 13085 7722510 Pasipattinam 23932 16087 5418 45437 Total 330631 263479 105947 700057

(Ss-Scylla serrata, St-S.tranquebarica, Pp-Portunus pelagicus, Ps-P.sanguinolentus,Pg-P.gladiator, Pv-Podophthalmus vigil, Cf- Charybdis feriata, Cn-C.natator,Cl-C.lucifera,Cv- C.variegata,Cg- C.granulata,Ct- C.truncata)[St1-Arukkattuthurai, St2-Pointcalimere, St3-Muthupettai, St4-Adirampattinam,St5-Mallipattinam, St6-Sethubavachatram, St7-Kattumavadi, St8-Manamelkudi,St 9- Jegathapattinam, St 10-Pasipattinam]

Table 5: Total crabs (Kg) landed from different stations during January 2010 to December 2010.

Crabs I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X TOTALSs 11821 7993 5001 6946 12461 8847 4968 3732.2 6500 3936.3 72205.5St 7188 6655.1 6255 6670 13200 11977 5941 10933.7 7923 3975 80717.8Pp 12295 13871 13020 13095 27460 17540 15642 24040 17351 10984 165298Ps 9386 9718 10461 9816 18256 16792 9933.5 24129 14731 7609.6 130832.1Pg 3774 3396.6 2947 2306.1 4672.3 3982.2 2778 2318.9 3782.7 1939.8 31897.6Pv 2501.1 4998 4377.2 2334.2 4622.2 4846 1264.8 7551.7 4103.2 2517.5 39115.9Cf 1887 5375.4 4951 2522.9 8049 3926 2597 5104.9 4926 2463 41802.2Cn 3335.6 5488.6 2528 3040.2 4747.6 1948.4 2986 4035.4 4319 2158 34586.8Cl 3878 4394.6 1774.6 2993 3695.9 1553.8 3228 3092.8 3251.9 2110.5 29973.1Cv 2611.4 5373.1 1714.1 2694.4 3091.8 1364.7 2042.7 4686.9 3989.6 2604.6 30173.3Cg 3089.2 3678 2258.5 2624 2170.3 911.9 2404.6 3639.3 3890.4 3160 27826.2Ct 1563 2917.9 1424.5 1471.8 1828.7 1981.5 1512.3 2632 2457.4 582 18371.1Total 63329 73860 56712 56514 104254 74271 52561 95894 77225 45437 700057

Table 6: One way analysis of variance for the crabs landed in different landing centers from January-2010 to December-2010.

Source of Variation SS df MS F P-value F critCrab landed 269626389 9 29958488 1.153176 0.332315 1.966054Within Groups 2857702142 110 25979110Total 3127328531 119

Citation: Varadharajan D, Soundarapandian P (2012) Commercially Important Crab Fishery Resources from Arukkattuthurai to Pasipattinam, South East Coast of India. J Marine Sci Res Dev 2:110. doi:10.4172/2155-9910.1000110

Page 4 of 6

Volume 2 • Issue 4 • 1000110J Marine Sci Res DevISSN:2155-9910 JMSRD an open access journal

The crabs like P. pelagicus, P. sanguinolentus, S. serrata and S.tranquebarica forming a major crab fishery along south east coast [10, 16, 17]. The above mentioned four species also contributed maximum throughout the study period of the present study in almost all the stations. This might be due to their continuous breeding activity and the fecundity up to 0.52 million eggs [15]. In the present study P. vigil, P. gladiator, C. feriata, C. natator, C. lucifera, C. granulata, C. truncata and C. variegata fishery is purely seasonal and contributes very less as far as total crab fishery is concerned. The previous report by [15] also supported the present findings among ten landing centers; C. truncata was less in Pasipattinam (582 kg), Muthupettai (1424.5 kg) and Adirampattinam (1471.8 kg). However, P. gladiator was available less in Pasipattinam (1939.8 kg) and Muthupettai (2947 kg). Similarly C. lucifera (1774.6 kg) and C. granulata (911.9) were available less in Sethubavachatram landing centre. Berried crabs of P. pelagicus, P.sanguinolentus, S.serrata and S. tranquebarica are available all the months of the year. In general the total numbers of berried crabs are maximum in Mallipattinam (16,533 kg) and minimum in Pasipattinam (5418 kg) which directly reflects the total number of crabs landed. Although, the commercial crabs are caught throughout the year at various regions of the coast, the main season varies from place to place [19]. On the west coast, the fishery is generally active in the latter half of the year. In the east coast, the peak season is observed in January to April and June to October and December. Landing of Portunid species have been estimated from other parts of the country as well [6, 7, 9, 11, 20, 21, 22].

There has been significant variation in the results obtained by different workers who studied fecundity of portunid crabs from various regions [5,23]. The number of eggs produced

by crustaceans varies widely [24]. According to [25] the fecundity can vary seasonally, annually and between areas. Among Brachyuran crabs, there is substantial variation in fecundity and is breeds round the year. Among various crab species reported in the present study, P.pelagicus and P.sanguinolentus were landed maximum in almost all the stations. This is also supported by various workers in different parts. P. pelagicus as a continuous breeder with maximum intensity during September - March near Mandapam on southeast coast of India [26,27] reported the occurrence of berried females of P. pelagicus throughout the year with pronounced abundance from January to March and September to December in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar. The high with definite peaks during December to January along the southwest coast of India suggesting peak breeding during that period [28]. The breeding of this species is from August to April with peak in January [5,29]. mentioned that the breeding of P. pelagicus takes place during February to March in the Zuari estuary in Goa. Two peaks in the incidence of gravid females of P. pelagicus, one in September and another in February were reported from Australian waters by [30]. The report on the biology of P. sanguinolentus observed that the species is breeding during February to April along the Malabar Coast [20,31] reported year round spawning with peak activity during March to April along the Mangalore coast, while [32] noticed that the crab is breeding throughout the year in the Bombay area [6] mentioned that this crab is breeding all through the season with maximum intensity in February and April to May along the South Kanara coast [33] indicated that this species spawn year round with a peak season from October to February [29] found that breeding is almost continuous throughout the year except July with peak activity in February along the southwest coast of India. The peak breeding seasons of P. sanguinolentus was from November to March and December to May and July to August and C. feriata from April to July in southwest coast [34,35] estimated

the preponderance of berried S. serrata and P. pelagicus during post monsoon and in the months from August to October [36] along Tuticorin Bay observed that the maximum breeding activity in P. pelagicus during June followed by a gradual decrease in consecutive months and maximum in December. The portunid crab larval and juvenile abundance was at maximum level during late post monsoon and summer and minimum during December in the Vellar estuary [37]. The peak seasons of S. serrata were reported by [38]. For example S. tranquebarica, S. serrata have reported with comparatively higher fecundity [39-41]. The changes in the seasons of berried crab availability in two coasts might be due to different monsoonal periods, current patterns and environmental parameters.

According to the Annual Report 2009-2010 released by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, the west coast remains more productive, contributing 56% of the total catch in the country, while the remaining 44 % is contributed by the east coast. However, the fish landing in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh had shown an increasing trend during the same period [19]. The fundamental economic laws of supply and demand can be applied to understand the market for commercial fisheries, but there are added complications due to the common property nature of crab resources [42]. This common property problem is the subject of most of the commercial fisheries economics literature analyzing the reasons for biological and economic overfishing [26,43]. The estimation of biodiversity values in monetary terms helps to promote and justify conservation actions at the public policy and decision making level and is essential to define the optimal level of conservation [22].

In the present study the Arukkattuthurai to Pasipattinam supports a major crab fishery along southeast coast of India. The occurrence of brachyuran zoea is fairly large numbers during January to June and throughout year in south east coast [21]. It is suggest that these crabs are not moving far away from the fishing ground for hatching their eggs. In contrast, the occurrence of juveniles of Portunid crabs (45-80 mm cw) in small numbers and the rarity of younger juveniles (25-50 mm cw) in trawl, mini trawl and shore seine catches throughout the year indicates that the berried crabs particularly the larger ones, probably move to more saline deeper waters for hatching. The low incidence of ovigerous crabs in comparison to that of portunid crabs can well be explained by the offshore migratory behaviour of this crab for hatching. The possible conservative measures to increase the crab landings and to make it available throughout the year are given as follows; The large scale destruction of young crabs would obviously have adverse effect on the crab resources; therefore a specific size (For example, Scylla spp. is 140 mm of carapace width) for harvest is to be fixed. The fishing areas should be closed or the fishing effort should be minimized for certain period of time or seasonal banning of the shipment of crabs should be done. The conservation measures for catching young, undersized and berried crabs should be done by educating the fishermen through audiovisual aids. Sea ranching should be promoted for over exploited species. And certain regulatory measures and laws should be enforced like, fixing legal minimum size (across the broadest part of carapace) and protection of ovigerous crabs. The law breakers should be fined or punished.

The existing crab fishery of India is not commercially developed as in other countries. But from a comparison of the present exploitation and the evaluation of the potential crab resources of different regions, it would appear that there is a scope for developing the fishery in to a major industry. Prerequisites for such an expansion from the commercial point of view are the extensive use of the efficient tackles

Citation: Varadharajan D, Soundarapandian P (2012) Commercially Important Crab Fishery Resources from Arukkattuthurai to Pasipattinam, South East Coast of India. J Marine Sci Res Dev 2:110. doi:10.4172/2155-9910.1000110

Page 5 of 6

Volume 2 • Issue 4 • 1000110J Marine Sci Res DevISSN:2155-9910 JMSRD an open access journal

to catch crabs, the development of quick transportation facilities of this extremely perishable commodity to the consumer centers and the development of a taste for crab meat among the population. From the scientific point of view, it is essential that intensive investigations on improved fishing technique, on farming of suitable varieties of crabs and on various biological aspects are to be carried out not only to harvest crabs from unexploited inshore and offshore regions, but also to safeguard the stock from injudicious exploitation, as it is not uncommon to see females in berry being extensively fished and sold in the markets. Various commercial crab species are reported as food by the local communities and future research should focus on establishing their nutritive food value, biology and ecological relationships in their marine habitats. The primary fishing is the lifeblood of many small coastal communities, often where other sources of jobs and incomes. So it is recommended the protection of the breeding stock and undersized commercial valuable crabs. As well as recommended returning back to the sea of juveniles, ovigerous females and recently moulted crabs as a way of preventing overfishing. The evident conclusion from this study is that coastal fishery landing reports are important contributors in country’s economy, in terms of household income, employment and exports.

References

1. Tookwinas S, Srichantulk N, Kanchanavasite C (1992) Mud crab production in Thailand. In C.A. Angell (ed.). The mud crab. Report of the seminar on the mud crab culture and trade. Surat Thani, Thailand, November 5-8, 1991. BOBP/REP/51.Madras, India. 56-63.

2. Rai HS (1933) Shell fisheries of Bombay presidency( Part II). J Bombay Nat Hist Soc 36: 884-897.

3. Chhapgar BF (1957) On the marine crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura) of Bombay State. Rep marine zool 54: 503-522.

4. Anzari ZA, Harkantra SN (1976) Crab resources of Goa. Sea Exp J 8: 21-24.

5. Dhawan RM, Dwivedi SN, Rajamanickam GV (1976) Ecology of the blue crab Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus) and its potential fishery in Zuari estuary. Indian J Fish 23: 57-64.

6. Sukumaran KK, Telang KY, Thippeswamy D (1986) On the fishery and biology of the crab Portunus pelagicus (Herbst) along the south Kanara coast. Indian J Fish 33: 188-200.

7. Bal DV, Rao KV (1984) The crabs, in marine fisheries. Tata Mcgraw- Publishing Company Ltd., New Delhi. pp. 375-385.

8. Menon MK (1952) A note on the bionomics and fishery of swimming crab, Neptunus sanguinolentus (Herbst) on the Malabar Coast. J Zool Soc India 4: 177-184.

9. Shanmugam S, Bensam P (1980) The fishery for the crab Scylla serrata (Forskal) at Tuticorin during 1974-75. Indian J Fish 27: 102-110.

10. Varadharajan D, Soundarapandian P, Dinakaran GK, Vijakumar G (2009) Crab Fishery Resources from Arukkattuthurai to Aiyammpattinam, South East Coast of India. Curr Res J Biol Sci 1: 118-122.

11. Lalitha Devi S (1985) The fishery and biology of crabs of Kakinada region. Indian J Fish 32: 18-32.

12. Jones S, Sujasingani KH (1952) Notes on the crab fishery of Chilka Lake. J Bombay Nat Hist Soc 51: 128-134.

13. Abdel-Razek FA (1987) Crab fishery of the Egyptian waters with notes on the biomomics of Portunus pelagicus (L.) adriat 28: 143-154.

14. Michael JVDA, Dean LF (1984) Species Profiles: Life histories and environmental requirements of coastal fishes and invertebrates (South Atlantic) - blue crab. U .S. Fish Wildlife Serv 82: 16.

15. Radhakrishnan CK (1979) Studies on portunid crabs of Porto Novo (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) Ph.D Thesis, Annamalai University India pp 1-129.

16. Sanil Kumar S (2000) New horizons in sea crab meat processing. Sea exp J 31: 41-43.

17. John Samuel N, Thirunavukkarasu N, Soundarapandian P, Shanmugam A, Kannupandi T (2004) Fishery potential of commercially important portunid crabs along Parangipettai coast. In: Proceedings of Ocean Life Food & Medicine Expo pp 165-173.

18. CMFRI (2009) Annual Report 2009 -2010. Technical Report. CMFRI, Kochi.

19. CMFRI (2010) Annual Report 2010 - 2011. Technical Report. CMFRI, Kochi. Coast: A case study. J Mar Biol Ass India 45: 99-107.

20. George PC, Nayak KR (1961) Observations on the crab fishing of Mangalore coast. Indian J Fish 8: 44-53.

21. Rao P, Vedavyasa MM, Thomas, Sudhakara Rao G (1973) The crab fishery resources of India. In: Proceedinds of the symposium on living resources of the seas around India. CMFRI Sp Publ: 581-591.

22. Joel DR, Raj PJS (1987) Marine crab fisheries around Pulicat. Sea exp J 19:18-21.

23. Potter IC, Chrystal PJ, Loneragan NR (1983) The biology of the blue manna crab Portunus pelagicus in an Australian estuary. Mar Biol 78: 75-85.

24. Sastry A (1983) Ecological aspects of reproduction. In: FJ Vernberg and W Vernberg Biology of crustacea. Academic press: New York 8: 179-270.

25. Parsons DG, Tucker GE (1986) Fecundity of northern shrimp Pandalus borealis (Crustacea, Decapoda) in areas of North West Atlandic. Fish Bull US 84: 549-558.

26. Prasad RR, Thampi PRS (1952) An account of the fishery and fishing methods for Neptunus pelagicus near Mandapam. J Zool Soc India 4: 335-339.

27. Ameerhamsa KMS (1978) Fishery of the swimming crab Portunus pelagicus Linnaeus from Palk bay and Gulf of Mannar. Indian J Fish 25: 229-232.

28. Pillai KK, Nair NB (1973) Observations on the breeding biology of some crabs from the south west coast of India. J Mar Biol Ass India 15: 745-770.

29. Pillai K, Nair NB (1970) Observation on the reproductive cycles of some crabs from the southwest coast of India. J Mar Biol Ass India 10: 384-386.

30. Campbell GR, Fielder DR (1986) Size at sexual maturity and occurrence of ovigerous females in three species of commercially exploited portunid crabs in S.E. Queensland. Proc R Soc Queens 97: 79-87.

31. Menon MK (1953) A note on the bionomics and fishery of swimming crab, Neptunus sanguinolentus (Herbst) on the Malabar Coast. J Zool Soc India 4: 177-184.

32. Chhapgar BF (1956) On the breeding habits and larval stages of some crabs. Rec Indian Mus 54: 33-52.

33. Ryan EP (1967) Structure and function of the reproductive system of the crab Portunus sanguinolentus (Herbst) (Brachyura: Portunidae). I Male system Proc Symp Crustacea Mar Biol Ass India Part II: 506-521.

34. Saradha PT (1998) Crab fishery of the Calicut coast with some aspects of the population characteristics of Portunus sanguinolentus, Portunus pelagicus and Charybdis cruciata. Indian J Fish 45: 375-386.

35. Joel DR, Raj PJS (1982) Reproduction in portunid crabs Scylla serrata and Portunus pelagicus from Gulf of Mannar. In: Progress in Invertebrates Reproduction and Aquaculture. (Eds.) T Subramoniam and Sudha Varadarajan New Century Printers Madras 162-175.

36. Rajamani M, Manickaraja M (1998) A note on the fishery of the swimming crab Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus) from Tuticorin bay. Indian J Fish 39: 185-188.

37. Sethuramalingam S (1984) Studies on Brachyuran crabs from Vellar estuary, Killai backwater complex of Porto Novo coast. Ph.D Thesis, Annamalai University, India, p.243.

38. Hill BJ (1975) Abundance, breeding and growth of the crab Scylla serrata in two South African estuaries. Marine Biology 32: 119-126.

39. Prasad PN, Neelakantan B (1989) Fecundity of the mud crab, Scylla serrata (Forskal). Mahasagar 22: 23-28.

40. Roberston WD, Kruger A (1994) Size at maturity, mating and spawning in the portunid crab Scylla serrata (Forskal) in Natal, South Africa. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 39: 185-200.

41. Srinivasagam S, Kathirvel M, Kulasekarapandian S (2000) Captive brood stock development induced breeding and larval stages of mud crabs (Scylla spp.) CIBA Bulletin 12: 97.

Citation: Varadharajan D, Soundarapandian P (2012) Commercially Important Crab Fishery Resources from Arukkattuthurai to Pasipattinam, South East Coast of India. J Marine Sci Res Dev 2:110. doi:10.4172/2155-9910.1000110

Page 6 of 6

Volume 2 • Issue 4 • 1000110J Marine Sci Res DevISSN:2155-9910 JMSRD an open access journal

Submit your next manuscript and get advantages of OMICS Group submissionsUnique features:

• Userfriendly/feasiblewebsite-translationofyourpaperto50world’sleadinglanguages• AudioVersionofpublishedpaper• Digitalarticlestoshareandexplore

Special features:

• 200OpenAccessJournals• 15,000editorialteam• 21daysrapidreviewprocess• Qualityandquickeditorial,reviewandpublicationprocessing• IndexingatPubMed(partial),Scopus,DOAJ,EBSCO,IndexCopernicusandGoogleScholaretc• SharingOption:SocialNetworkingEnabled• Authors,ReviewersandEditorsrewardedwithonlineScientificCredits• Betterdiscountforyoursubsequentarticles

Submityourmanuscriptat:www.editorialmanager.com/environsci

42. Bueno PB (2005) Impacts of Tsunami on Fisheries, Coastal Resources and Human Environment in Thailand. In: 4th Regional Network of Local Governments Forum Bali. p 28.

43. Prasad RR, Thampi PRS (1953) A contribution to the biology of the blue swimming crab Neptunus pelagicus (Linnaeus), with a note on the zoea of Thalamita crenata Latrelle. J Bombay Nat Hist Soc 51: 674-689.