Biological characteristics of the Vashishti estuary, Maharashtra (west coast of India)

The estuary and coastal nearshore regions sustained fairly high concentrati on of chlorophyll a (av 3.1 mg/m(3)) and primary productivity (av 89.9 mgC/ m(3)/h). High rate of primary productivity was observed in the estuarine se gments especially along the lower reaches. However, the standing stocks of zooplankton (av. 3 ml/100 m(3)) and macrobenthos (av. 2.1 g/m(2)) of the es tuarine system were low compared to the nearshore coastal system off Vashis hti. A gradual increase in zooplankton faunal group diversity from inner es tuary to the coastal waters was evident. There was no marked change in faun al group diversity of macrobenthos between estuarine and coastal system. Se lected water quality parameters were correlated with chlorophyll-a, phaeoph ytin, primary productivity, zooplankton and benthos. Fishery resources of t he coastal area in terms of catch per unit effort (CPU) was fairly good dur ing premonsoon (33 kg/h) than postmonsoon (3.4 kg/h) period. The observed b iological characteristics of the Vashishti river indicated good production only at primary level and the overall potential could be rated as moderate.