Organic composition of three edible bycatch species from Visakhapatnam fishing Harbour

The non-commercial fishes called bycatch form a significant quantity of the total marine fish landings particularly in the landing area of Visakhapatnam fishing harbour (VFH). The inedible fishes, bulk catches of juvenile fishes, low value fishes and fishes unacceptable for human consumption are commonly referred to as bycatch. The present study was conducted to investigate the organic components (total protein, carbohydrate and lipid) and moisture in 3 species of finfish (Leiognathus equulus, Upeneus vittatus and Trichiurus lepturus) from bycatch of VFH during Aug 2014 to Jul‘16. The total protein estimation was done by Micro Kjeldahl method, carbohydrate by Dubois method and lipid by Franz von Soxhlet method. The results showed that these fishes are good source of proteins, carbohydrates and lipids. The result of the current study explained that the overall nutritional composition of each bycatch categories were above 15% in inedible bycatch which proves that the bycatch were of good nutritional value and it is acceptable for development of value added products. This investigation may be beneficial in utilization of bycatch.