Kochi, March 17 ICAR-CMFRI announced on Tuesday that it has launched a research initiative to explore fishery resources associated with seamounts in the Arabian Sea, with a special focus on cephalopods such as squid, cuttlefish, and octopus.
In a press release, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CMFRI) said that the two-year project, funded by the Ministry of Earth Sciences at a total cost of Rs five crore, aims to document the diversity, ecology, distribution, and biology of cephalopods centered around seamount regions in the eastern Arabian Sea.
The project will also develop Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based tools for automated identification of squid, cuttlefish, and octopus species, which is expected to significantly strengthen scientific understanding of deep-sea biodiversity, the release said.
The research is being carried out by CMFRI’s Kochi headquarters and Mangaluru Regional Centre in collaboration with the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Surathkal, it said.
The research project is being implemented under Vertical-3 of the Deep Ocean Mission of the central government, it added.
The first exploratory survey targeting selected seamounts in the southeastern Arabian Sea was carried out onboard the CMFRI research vessel FV Silver Pompano, operating from Kochi, the release said.
The survey was led by senior scientist Dr Divya Viswambharan and scientist Kavitha M, it said.
Another scientific team headed by principal scientist Dr V Venkatesan conducted parallel sampling operations onboard a fishing vessel from Azheekal fishing harbour in Kollam and it focused on documenting cephalopod assemblages associated with seamount habitats in the region.
"The findings are expected to generate valuable insights into the ecology and diversity of deep-sea cephalopods, which will help develop strategies for the conservation of seamount associated fishery resources," Dr Geetha Sasikumar, principal Investigator of the project, said, according to the release.
Seamounts are elevated topographic features that are more than 100 m above the ocean floor, it said.
"They are frequently referred to as hotspots of benthic and pelagic species diversity. Compared to the surrounding habitat, these seamounts sustain a high abundance of demersal and benthopelagic fishes.
"Seamounts are becoming more and more popular owing to their biogeography and ecology," the release said.