Status of Deep Sea Fishery survey in Myanmar

1. Status of Deep Sea Fishery survey in Myanmar Aung Htay Oo Senior Fishery Officer Marine Fisheries Conservation Unit, DOF. aunghtayoo21@gmail.com

2. Introduction • Union of Myanmar has long coastline of nearly 3000 km. total land area is 67.67 million ha. • The population of Myanmar is 56.52 million. • Three coastal regions • Rakhine coastal region, Naff River to Mawtin point about 740 km. • Ayeyarwaddy Delta region, from Mawtin point to the gulf of Mottama, about 460 km. • Taninthayi coastal region, from Gulf of Mottama to the mouth of the Packchan river, about 1200 km. • Coastline formed several large estuarine, delta system and numerous offshore islands. • Coastal zone is very diverse array of ecosystem, such as coral reef, sea grass bed, mud and sand flats, mangroves, bays, estuaries etc,. • There are two major islands grouping the moscos islands in the north and the Mergui (Myeik) archipelago in Taninthayi consists of over 800 islands

3. Contin: • Union of Myanmar, with an area of 676,577 sq kilometer • A long coastline nearly 3000 kilo meter from border with Bangladesh to Northern-most Taninthayi division. • Rich in aquatic resources • Total swamp area is 0.5 million hectares serving as spawning, nursery and feeding grounds for near shore aquatic and brackish water fauna • Continental shelf covers 228,751 sq kilometers • The territorial fishing zone is within 12 nautical miles from baseline • The EEZ covers 200 nautical off shore from baseline • Myanmar fisheries water including EEZ is 486,000 sq kilometer

4. Rakhine state • Situated in the westernmost part of the nation • Boarding with Chin state in North and Magway division. Bago and Ayeyarwaddy division in the east and facing Bay of Bangal in the west. • The area of Rakhine state is 22852.68 sq km. • Located in tropical monsoon region, temperature never rise or fall extremely. • Average temperature in Sittwe in May the hottest month of the year is 84º F (29º C), in January the coldest month of the years is 70ºF (21ºC) • Rakhine gets a lot of rain annually as the north-west monsoon wind blows from the sea. • Annual rain fall at Thandwe is 221 inches.

5. Rakhine state (contin:) • Kyauk-Phyu gets 186 inches, Sittway get 203 inches. • Torrential rainfall and tidal wave rise from sea when cyclones that are formed in the Bay of Bengal, enter Rakhine state, causing proper damages and flooded sea water in the low land area. • Though the storm appears mostly in early and late period of rainy season. Sometime appear in the mid rainy season.

6. Rakhine state (contin:) • There are fishing industries in Sittway, Kyaukphyu, Thandwe and Andrew bay. • Most of the catch is transported to Yangon directly. • State own pearl culture station is situated on Apawye island near Thandwe. • Sun dried fish and salt are produced along the coast, produced sundried indian anchovy Stolephorus indicus and spanish mackerel Scomberomorus commerson as well.

7. Previous surveys b= Menon and PPFC team analyzed the trawl catch data of PPFC for 1975-77 and calculated standing stock of demersal fish for Burmese shelf area.

8. UNDP/FAO Project BUR/77/003 • In 1979-80, the research vessel "Dr. Fridtjof Nenson" conducted survey in Myanmar water. • The objectives of the project, to which these survey were expected to contribute • To make an estimate of marine fish biomass with the EEZ of Myanmar and in particular, over its continental shelf. • Survey methods • Acoustic estimation of biomass of demersal and pelagic fish. • Estimation by Trawl fishing for identification and sampling and for assessment of catch rates. • Recording types of bottom samples, hydrographical profiles form coast to 500 mtr depths for temperature, salinity and oxygen. • As a result, 1.0 million metric ton of pelagic fish and 0.8 million metric tons of demersal fish are exists as biomass in Myanmar.

9. Shrimp resource survey • In 1982, Dr. John Tarbit conducted the shrimp resources survey till 60 mtr depth range in Rakhine area. • Estimated that 4370 metric tones of shrimp in 5102 sq miles water between 17º to 20º North latitude. • In 1985, DOF conducted deep sea survey by 533 shrimp trawler, mean catch rate is 31.18 kg/hr • Then, Thai-Myanmar joint survey was conducted as well and mean catch is 31.6 kg/hr. • Then, DOF of Myanmar and SEAFDEC conducted two time partial deep sea survey in Myanmar in 2004 and 2007.

10. FRTV- Chulabhorn In 1990, Joint Myanmar-Thai fishery exploratory Survey has been conducted in Myanmar water Research operation with FRTV- Chulabhorn Fishery Biological survey, Acoustic survey and Oceanographic survey were carried out. The result of overall catch rate was 183.67 kg/hr with about 79.94%of economically important fish, and 20.06% of trash fish. A complete classification of 65 families and 226 species were identified from trawl catch. The highest catch rate observed was 1,473 kg/hr which was obtained at the depth of 105.0 mtr at station No-2 in Delta area.

11. Myanmar-India oceanographic survey • In 2002, the joint Myanmar-India oceanographic survey was conducted in Bay of Bengal and Andaman sea. • To study the marine plankton distribution, benthos, chemical and mineral content of the sea water etc; • This survey was supported by National Institute of Oceanography • The survey team from Indian scientists and Myanmar scientists lead by Dr. Swe Thwin who is professor of marine science from University of Mawlamyein.

12. The activities of SEAFDEC 2 in Myanmar water • In 2004 and 2007, the oceanographic survey and fishery survey was conducted in Myanmar water. • FRTV-SEAFDEC 2 from Southeast Asia Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) • Survey team scientists from department of Fisheries (Thailand) and Fishery scientists from Department of Fisheries Myanmar. • Studied the catch composition, species composition, length frequency and oceanographic parameters.

13. Jointed Ecosystem based deep sea survey in bay of Bengal • In 2007, the ecosystem based deep sea survey and fishery survey was conducted in Sri Lanka, India and Myanmar water. • using FRTV-SEAFDEC from Southeast Asia Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) • Survey team scientists from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, DOF of Thailand, SEAFDEC and Myanmar. • The fishing gears used are gillnet, long line, and automatic squid jigging. • Studied the catch composition, species composition, length frequency and oceanographic parameters and many sub-projects.

14. Demersal fishery resource survey in untrawlable fishing ground at Rakhine in January 2009. • The objectives • To investigate the potential resources of some economically important species. • To introduce and carry out trial of appropriate/ responsible fishing gears and practice for harvesting of fisheries resources on the untrawlable grounds. • Material and method • Fishing gear: Bottom vertical long line • Bait : squids • Immersion time : 2 hr • No of St: 10 stations • Topography survey : portable echo sounder • Fishing boats: 2 local fishing boats (photos) • Researchers from SEAFDEC and DOF Myanmar. • 10 local fishermen joined on board

15. Results and findings of Rakhine survey

16. Fish species caught Lethrinus sp. Scolopis monogramma Nemipterus japonicus Lutjanus erythropterus Cephalopholis argus Cephalopholis formosa

17. Fish species caught Arothron stellatus Psudobalistes flavimarginatus Lagocephalus wheeleri Seriolina nigrofaciata Moray eel Pomadasys hasta

18. Fish species caught Arius sp

19. Observation of Fisheries activities of Rakhine area

20. Providing fishing gears to the local fishermen

21. Evaluation of Finding for the future survey • Fishing time gap between local fishermen and survey team. • Selected hook size (may be reduced the catch) • The capacity of the fishing vessels • Need to collect more parameters • Need to conduct more detail survey at Rakhine fishing grounds collaboration with SEAFDEC using more effective deep sea fishing vessels

22. Thank you all