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Hoque, M.; Ramteke, K.; Nakhawa, A.D.; Abidi, Z.J., and Naidu, B.C., 2024. Vulnerability assessment of commercially essential fish stocks in the data-poor northwest coast of India. Journal of Coastal Research, 40(6), 1068–1079. Charlotte (North Carolina), ISSN 0749-0208. A semiquantitative risk assessment tool, such as the productivity susceptibility analysis (PSA), is widely used to evaluate the relative vulnerability of species to overfishing or other fishing activities. This tool is particularly valuable in data-poor regions for prioritizing conservation and research management efforts among different species. In the present study, PSA evaluated the vulnerability of 70 commercially essential finfish species, including 35 pelagic species and 35 demersal species. For the demersal species, the vulnerability score varied from 0.9 to 2. The spotted eagle ray (Aetobatus narinari) was identified as the most vulnerable species among selected demersal species, with a vulnerability score of 2, whereas the black pomfret (Parastromateus niger) exhibited the lowest vulnerability, with a score of 0.9. Among the demersal species, four species (11.42%) were classified as having moderate vulnerability, with scores ranging from 1.8 to 1.9, whereas 30 species (85.71%) were classified as having low vulnerability, with scores ranging from 0.9 to 1.7. The vulnerability scores of the 35 pelagic fishes ranged from 0.9 to 1.9. The lowest vulnerability score, 0.9, was observed in the Indian oil sardine Sardinella longiceps and commerson's anchovy Stolephorus commersoni; the great barracuda Spyraena barracuda showed the highest vulnerability score, 1.9, among 35 pelagic fishes from the NW coast of India. Most of the overall data quality (DQ) were selected from moderate DQ from the present study. The susceptibility DQ for most species is low; this suggests that data collection on certain species' life-history features should be improved. Vulnerability evaluation is useful in identifying species that face extinction or overexploitation. The results of this study will help in planning fisheries management programs and creating conservation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The milkfish, Chanos chanos, is a commercially important cultured species which is distributed throughout south and southeast Asian countries. Captive breeding and seed production techniques have been standardized recently in India and there is a need for analyzing its population structure along the Indian coast. A total of 80 samples from four different locations across the Indian coast were analyzed by using ATPase 6/8 genes. Analysis revealed the existence of 25 haplotypes across populations with the haplotype diversity in the range of 0.5684–0.8053 and the nucleotide diversity varied from 0.001838 to 0.002519. The variation within and among populations accounted for 97.43% and 2.75%, respectively. The observed FST values were found to be non-significant (p > 0.05). Results from this study indicated that there is lack of genetic divergence between the populations of milkfish along the Indian coast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stocks of Chanos chanos (Milkfish) are identified based on the morphometric traits from four different locations from the Indian coast. A total of 246 fish samples were collected for the present study from the East coast (Mandapam Lagoon and Chilika Lake) and West coast (Mandovi–Zuari estuarine system and Cochin backwaters). Digital imaging techniques were employed to extract 18 morphometric characters from the specimens. Principal component analysis showed that horizontal depth measurements, dorsal fin length and pelvic fin length were helpful in differentiating the milkfish populations. First and second principal components explained the variance of 37.62% and 31.26 % respectively. Cross-validated results of the discriminant analysis showed the overall classification rate of 90.4%. The present study decoded the differentiation and occurrence of separate stocks of milkfish in Indian waters. The findings of the present study could be utilized for conservation and management of the species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]