The Reef-Based Fisheries Research activities focus its efforts on generating biological and fishery information on the different fisheries targeting reef associated fauna. Fisheries exploiting these species include general reef fishery, grouper fishery, aquarium fishery, sea cucumber fishery, lobster fishery and various other recreational fishery activities. All these fisheries combined exploit hundreds of species using various gear and vessel types. Some of these fisheries have undergone considerable expansion and continue to evolve to cater to the growing demand and depleting resource base. Such complexities arising from the diversity of the fisheries necessitate thorough and intensive research and monitoring to understand the health of the stocks and maintain their productivity. 

In line with the overarching objective of the fisheries research of MMRI, the Reef-Based Fisheries research continually monitor, assess and conduct research on different fisheries activities. This also includes biological and ecological aspects of species being exploited, to ensure evidence-based management advice to manage stocks at biologically sustainable levels.