The coral reef areas of Gulf of Mannar support a rich fauna of fishes and bottom set gill net is one of the important gears employed in this area. Reef fishes landed at Pamban fish landing centre by bottom-set gillnets operated in Gulf of Mannar, for a period of three years from January, 2009 to December, 2011 were studied based on fortnightly sampling. A total of 69 species belonging to 29 families were recorded during the study and as per IUCN, two species, Himantura uarnak and Rhinoptera javanica are included under the Vulnerable category. The landings amounted to 1761 tonnes during the period with a maximum contribution of 44% during 2011 and it was the minimum during 2010 with a share of 27%. Species-wise landings indicated the dominance of Lethrinus nebulosus (11.5%) followed by Neotrygon kuhlii (10.6%). The richness and diversity indices showed a gradual increase from 2009 to 2011 and all the year wise points in the funnel plot for variation in taxonomic distinctness (λ+) are within the expected limit. The qualitative and quantitative abundance along with different diversity measures are presented and discussed in this paper. The results of the present investigation suggest that the bottom set gill net fishery is in a healthy condition with respect to Pamban fish landing centre.

Reef fishes, gill-net fishery, fish abundance, coral reef ecosystem, Gulf of Mannar