Delineation of the Stock Structure of White Sardine Escualosa thoracata (Valenciennes, 1847) along the Indian Waters based on Biometric Analysis

Abstract

Background: An understanding of the stock structure of commercially exploited species is important for effective fisheries management. The white sardine Escualosa thoracata (Valenciennes, 1847) forms a significant fishery along with both the costs of India. The decline in the resource landings during the last decade along the whole range of its distribution necessitated the recent deliberations to recognize the likely existence of stocks. In the present study, fish stocks are typically identified based on the differences in phenotypic characteristics between fish from discrete units to assess the stock structure of white sardine in the Indian waters using a biometric analysis. Methods: Different four distinct locations, two each from the west coast (Mumbai and Cochin) and east coast (Kolkata and Chennai) along the Indian peninsula were surveyed based on the geographical situation during 2016. The collected samples of Escualosa thoracata were determined morpho-meristic based deliberationsand subsequently, the data analysis was carried out to recognize the likely existence of stocks. Result: Biometric analysis used as one of the important complementary contributions to manage and control the management-related problems in the future. The results obtained by the morphometric and the meristic analyses, were correlated and conformed.