Fishery of bullseyes (Family:Priacanthidae), an emerging non-conventional demersal finfish resource, and the stock assessment of the dominant species Priacanthus hamrur ( Forsskal) along the west coast of India are presented. The resource constituted on an average 16,8701 during 2000-2004, and the production showed wide international fluctuations. Caught mainly by trawl, the group is represented mainly by P. hamrur followed by P. cruentatus and          P. tayenus. The growth parameters of P.hamrur along the west coast are L_∞= 410 mm and K = 0.59lyr. This fish was found to attain 182.7 mm, 284 mm, 340.2 mm and 371.3 mm during the I-IV^th years of its life span. The total mortality coefficient (2) off northwest and southwest coasts during the period ranged between 4.46 to 6.14 and 3.99 to 5.45 respectively. The natural mortality (M) was 1.14 for the west coast while the fishing mortality (F) ranged between 5 and 3.32 off northwest coast and between 4.31 and 1.13 off southwest coast. The annual average yield from northwest region was 6,293 t while the estimated annual stock, average standing stock and MSY were 8,173 t, 2,069 t, and 6.356 t. respectively. Off southwest coast, it was 10,578 t, 14,692 t, 3,401 t and 10,620 t respectively. The exploitation ratio (E) indicated that the resource is optimally exploited.

Fishery of bullseyes, west coast of India, Management brief