Ningthoujam Chaoba Devi1a, Sudhakar Bisena, Yaqoota Muqboola, Jaya Angomb and Janmejay Parhia*

Introduction

It is more challenging to manage fisheries and monitor biodiversity in the maritime environment. A wide range of complex tasks are involved in fisheries management, which is vital to stop overfishing and aid in recovering overfished stocks. Traditionally, fish diversity has been monitored primarily by census techniques including electrofishing, gill/hoop/seine netting, and dredging/trawling (Wang et al., 2020). Monitoring fishing activity based on the two primary sources, landing data and scientific surveys, is difficult, as the data collected in fisheries is often limited due to its low sampling efficiency, destructiveness to organisms, and reliance on taxonomic expertise. Therefore, several molecular applications have the potential to offer distinctive insights into the ecological processes in maritime environments and to strengthen ecosystem-based fisheries management. Environment DNA (eDNA) analysis can be added to the management toolkit, which will save valuable time and resources. It is a genetic material derived from environmental samples (soil, water, etc.) without the need to sample the organisms directly. Organisms release it into their surroundings through secretions, tissues, cells, and other forms (Stewart, 2019). Microorganisms also constantly shed and lose their genetic material, leaving a molecular imprint in environmental samples that can be analyzed to find out whether certain target species are present or not (Ficetola, et al., 2008; Goldberg, et al., 2011) or characterize the biodiversity (Goodwin, et al., 2017).