Seasonal Variation of Fish Catches and Fisherman Practices for Sustainable Fishery Management in Songkhla Lake, Thailand

Abstract

The study was conducted in Songkhla lake, Thailand from 2017 to 2018. The data collection was done from primary and secondary sources. The results of an assessment of the relationship among amout of rainfall, air temperature and landings of different commercial species were obtained. The present study showed an effective tool for making accurate forecasts, time series analysis techniques and Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) models were used to analyze monthly fish and shrimp catch landing trends recorded for Songkhla lake during (2003- 2016). These models were well-chosen for explaining the time series and forecasting future catch landings. It was found that both fish and shrimp catch landings tend to fluctuate steadily. The fish catch from 2017 to 2020 was steadily increasing at the average catch of 36.06% for the period 2003-2016, while the shrimp catch is decreasing at the average catch of 15.47% for the same period. This study was the first reference on LWR equation parameters of Pellona ditchella (Valenciennes, 1847), Sardinella gibbosa (Bleeker, 1849) and Alepes vari (G. Cuvier, 1833) in the lower Gulf of Thailand. This good document would be used to compare these fish condition with many coastal areas in the world. This work provided a wider size range in FishBase, Pellona ditchella (Valenciennes, 1847) and Sardinella gibbosa (Bleeker, 1849). There were moderately low but significant correlations between the socio-economic data and total catch. There was a significant difference in the mean catch among three seasons. The highest mean total catches of 1,602 ± 136.4 kgs/year/fisher were found in the light rainy season. The lowest mean total catches of 963.3 ± 104.7 kgs/year/fisher were found in the rainy season. Some important findings from this research were that all the interviewed did not have the alternative occupation and were difficult to find another job. Based on the results, this study pointed out some recommendations for forecasting, managing, planning, aimed to contribute fishery sustainable development in Songkhla lake.