Fisheries ecology and biology of mud crabs from Chilika Lagoon a coastal wetland ecosystem

Abstract

In India, mud crabs of genus Scylla command a unique status by virtue of their delicacy newlineand greater demand for consumption in local as well as export markets. Though the mud newlinecrabs are marine dwellers, they immigrate into brackish water system during their postlarval newlinestages, grow fast, attain maturity and form a lucrative fishery in estuaries, newlinebackwaters and lagoons. With great demand for live export and increased price, the newlinefishery and aquaculture of mud crabs have gained importance in India and abroad. Over newlinelast two decades, exploitation of mud crabs from the known natural habitats, particularly newlinefrom the estuarine areas, has been intensified in many South East Asian countries after newlinethe starting of live mud crabs export in the early eighties. The mud crabs, Sylla spp., newlinerepresent a valuable component of small-scale coastal fisheries in many countries of newlinetropical and sub-tropical Asia and African coast. Because of the increasing demand for newlinemud crabs in the international market and the intensified efforts to expand newlinefattening/aquaculture of mud crabs to increase production for export, the increased newlineunregulated exploitation in many countries has led to depletion in the natural stock. newlineUnless effectively managed it is likely that mud crab population will experience increased newlinefishing pressure, targeting all size-classes, from juveniles for pond culture to tpature newlinefemales for premiere markets (Le Vay, 2001). Further, large mud crab population are newlinetypically associated with well-established mangrove systems, so that, apart from direct newlinefishing pressure, loss of habitat represents a serious impact on their site-specific newlineexistence, which clearly suggest close integration of sustainable development of mud newlinecrab aquaculture with its fisheries and mangrove management. newline newline