Abstract

The study was conducted on the species composition and percentage contribution of sharks and rays from two landing centers Fishery ghat Chittagong and BFDC fish harbour Cox s Bazar during 2011-2012 fiscal years A total 10 species of sharks belonging to 3 families and 14 species of rays belonging to 8 families were recorded Total landings of sharks and rays by weight were 382 67 MT of which 136 45 MT was sharks and 246 22 MT of rays A total 479661number of sharks and rays were landed of which 449133 were sharks and 30528 were rays but contribution of sharks and rays were 35 66 and 64 34 respectively by weight The highest landing was 70 94 MT in the month of October 2011 and lowest landing was 6 05 MT in the month of January 2012 The highest landing of shark species was Scoliodon laticaudus 84 52 MT 22 09 and lowest was Carcharhinus sorrah 0 01MT and the maximum and minimum landing of rays species were Himantura uarnak 164 42MT 42 97 and Aetobatus narinari 0 03 MT respectively