Status of Large Pelagics fishery in AndhraPradesh

Large pelagics forms an important fishery along Andhra Pradesh coast, 26 species of large pelagics are caught in the state. This group accounts to an annual average of 9% of total states marine catches (2.5 lakh ton) since a decade and highest contribution of large pelagics to the total states landing was recorded in 2014 (12%). Tunas dominated the large pelagics landings, followed by seerfishes and barracuda. Gillnets are mainly employed to catch tunas, seer fishes, billfishes and queenfishes, trawls for barracudas and hook and line for Dolphinfish. Peak landing occurred during the December - March period. Among the large pelagics, seerfishes fetched the highest price in the market.