Dayaratne P. <br/><br/>
Purse Seine Fishery in the South West Coast of Sri Lanka 

 - Colombo,  NARA, 
 - 16p. 
<br/><br/> The paper presents the results of a survey carried out in 1985 and 1986 on <br/> 
<br/><br/> the purse seine fishery in Hikkaduwa and Ambalangoda areas along the south <br/>west coast of Sri Lanka. During the study period there were 59 purse seiners <br/>operating in this area. This fishery was carried-out only during the calm <br/>months i.e. from October to April each year using 3.5 ton boats with inboard <br/>engines. The size of the purse seine net varied from 150-210 meter in length <br/>and 50 m in depth. Fishing was usually carried out at night using 1500 watt <br/>bulbs for light attraction. The average catch per unit effort for purse seiners <br/>for 1985 and 1986 was 185.7 kg/boat. The total fish production by the <br/>purse seine fishery in this area during the study period was around 205t per <br/>annum which is about (12%) of the total marine fish production in this area.<br/>Amblygaster sirm (herring) is the most dopiinant species in the purse seine <br/>catch. Among others caught are Decapterus macarellus (scads ) Rastrelliger <br/>kanargurta ( Indian mackerel) and Loligo sp. . (squids). The size range of A.sirm <br/>caught by the purse seines and the small meshed gill nets are the same indicating <br/>that these two gear fish the same sardine stocks.