Status of Shark Community in Coastal West Bengal

Abstract

Sharks are important members of marine and estuarine food wehs and liave unique status of tlieir own not only witti respect to tlieir morplioJogical features, but also of their commercial value. Beside, the edible value, this cartilaginous fish community has great demand in the pharmaceutical industry In India the present annual shark production is around 47,000 tonnes, obtained as by catch from a variety of gears. Despite such commercial importance, no serious attempts have so far been made at any targeted exploitation of these valuable resources. Information on the composition of the species of shark landing is very scarce apart from the gross catch statistics. There are reports of the decline of shark population due to overexploitation, illegal poaching, water quality alteration etc in the coastal zone of IVest Bengal The present paper is an attempt to highlight the threats operating on this important cartilaginous fish community, with a conclusive conservative approach