Identificando patrones espaciales y temporales de la abundancia de langosta en el Archipiélago de San Andrés: Una experiencia de co-manejo

Abstract

The bony lobster is the main fishing activity in the San Andres Archipelago, however detailed knowledge of its spatial and temporal distribution patterns remains unknown. This paper presents an experience of co-management in order to locate main fishing areas s well as the lobster abundance trends in a highly exploited region with minimal previous scientific information. Atotal of 20,870 geographical locations of trap line settings were obtained from 26 captain logs over a twelve- year period. Positions of fishing trap lines were plotted using a geographic information system to generate thematic maps identifying fishing areas on a monthly and yearly basis to determine lobster abundance. The section of the Nicaraguan shelf which belongs to Colombia (Green Moon) was the region supporting the most fishing effort (68.3% of trap locations) and sections of Quitasueño shelf accounted for 14% of the fishing ground. Several, isolated and uncharted locations were identified which expanded the range of known lobster habitat with high lobster densities. On average 1,750 km2 (±SD=1,025) were monthly caught, with each boat covering 179 km2*month-1 (±SD= 74). Traps were moved from one area to another depending on the month, but Green Moon is fished year round. The largest fishing areas were observed in August, coinciding with the peak in lobster reproduction. Annual fishing areas included 2,841 km2*year-1 (±SD=585). Out of the 6,227 km2 of the overall fishing area, only 6% (1,060 km2) were considered a high density of lobster zone. Lobster density decreased from 14.1 lobster per 'lingada'-1 in 1994 to 2.9 lobster per 'lingada' -1 in 2005. Lingada is the common word utilized by fishermen to estimate the number of traps in a line and it is understood as a set with 25 traps, with a line having usually four lingadas (100 traps), The importance of bringing fishermen and managers together to share the knowledge each group possesses and to be able to handle a valuable fishing resource in a sustainable way has been pointed out.