Fishes and Fisheries: Conservation and Sustainable Development

It gives us an immense pleasure to bring out the publication of this volume entitled “Fishes and Fisheries: Conservation and Sustainable development” in honour of Principal M.S. Kamat, who has contributed immensely to the all round development of the M.E.S. College of Arts & Commerce, Zuaringar, Goa in particular and to the educational development of Goa in general. Since conservation and sustainable development of fisheries is a burning issue. We are pleased to place it in the hands of the readers interested in fisheries studies. Realizing the importance of sustainable fisheries, we had organized a National Seminar on Conservation and Sustainable growth of Fisheries on 4th and 5th October 2004 at M.E.S. College, Zuarinagar, Goa. Till about the beginning of the 1980’s the prime focus of fisheries development was high production. The governments world over were basically concerned with providing protein rich food to rapidly growing population and ensuring food security. The fisheries sector came to assume importance also due to its high foreign exchange earning potential. However, after few decades, the modernization of fisheries guided by this approach resulted in over fishing. Degradation of the marine environment and interference with the ecosystems through pollution were the other consequences of this approach. Today, fishery resources are exploited beyond their sustainable limits. The fisheries sector appears to be in crisis. The defective policies along with insatiable greed of the human beings have caused irreparable the world. The above aspects of fisheries have attracted the attention of social scientists, activists and policy makers in recent years. There has been a realization that the problems of fisheries sector need immediate redressal to conserve and sustain fish for future generations. The national seminars organized by us was a small step in the direction of finding solutions it these problems and to contribute to the formulation of fisheries policy. In its seminars, eighteen research articles were presented by the experts from fisheries sector and the academicians form various institutions. We thought it appropriate to publish these articles in the form of a book in order to disseminate the ideas generated in the seminar among the readers, which otherwise would have got dust in the library.