Catch sustainability of the main fish species exploited by handline in locations with distinct management systems in Brazil

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Ecological Risk Assessment for the Effects of Fishing (ERAEF) is an assignment process of magnitudes and probabilities to the damaging effects of fishing activities, and is used to identify and prioritize the risks of fishing to marine ecosystems. Productivity and susceptibility analysis (PSA), part of ERAEF, assumes that the susceptibility of a species to impact, and its productivity, determines the potential for recovery of the species if its population collapses. In this study, PSA of the species most caught by the handline fishery of the artisanal fleet from the state of Ceará, Northeast Brazil. Sampling was conducted by monitoring fishing landings from 2017 to 2019 at Mucuripe, Batoque marine protected area (MPA), and Prainha do Canto Verde MPA. The seven productivity attributes were maximum length (Lmax), von Bertalanffy growth coefficient (K), length at first maturity (L50), L50/Lmax, intrinsic growth rate (r), fecundity, and trophic level. The six susceptibility attributes were: availability (the geographic overlap of fishing activity according to species distribution), percentage of individuals caught larger than the L50, management strategy, commercial category, frequency of occurrence, and abundance. The productivity values ranged from 1.24 to 2.88. The species Scomberomorus cavalla showed the lowest productivity, while Holocentrus adscensionis showed the highest productivity with a high r and K. Susceptibility values ranged from 1.18 to 2.27. The species Lutjanus synagris caught at Batoque MPA showed the highest susceptibility, which was a high commercial category score, frequency of occurrence, and abundance at this site. Vulnerability values ranged from 1.71 to 3.46. The species S. cavalla, L. analis, and Ablennes hians were the most vulnerable, ranked as high risk at all sites. H. adscensionis was the least vulnerable at all sites. The vulnerabilities were not statistically different across the sites, suggesting a lack of effective management measures in the MPA.