Long-term changes in the fisheries in the Patos Lagoon estuary and adjacent coastal waters in Southern Brazil

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe life cycle, fisheries and management of the main fishing resources of the Patos Lagoon and adjacent coastal waters are reviewed. Over recent decades, fish landings in Rio Grande have decreased by over 60%. The stocks of the large-sized, slow-growing fishes Genidens barbus and G. planifrons, Pogonias cromis and Rhinobatos horkelii collapsed in the early 1980s. The pink shrimp Penaeus paulensis stock was reduced by intense fishing of subadults in the estuary and of adults at sea. The sciaenid fishes Micropogonias furnieri, Macrodon atricauda, Umbrina canosai and Cynoscion guatucupa, which together represent more than half of local marine fish landings, are overexploited. These sciaenids are more resilient to intense fishing when compared with other families because of their early maturation and high fecundity, but high exploitation rates are unsustainable in the long run. The pelagic migrant fishes Pomatomus saltatrix and Mugil liza and the blue crab Callinectes sapidus are at the limit of exploitation. The recovery of these stocks will depend on diminishing the fishing pressure they have suffered in recent decades. Despite legal protection, the present enforcement has proven to be insufficient and intense fishing by a large number of industrial and small-scale fishing boats still goes on. Overall, the future of the estuarine and coastal fishing resources is uncertain and the recovery of the large long-living species of the higher trophic levels is unlikely.