VULNERABILITY OH FISHES CAUGHT BY TRAP FISHING IN NORTHEASTERN – BRAZIL

Abstract

In Northeastern Brazil, the trap fishing occurs mainly in rocky bottoms and a high diversity of fishes is caught. These characteristics, associated with the growing fishing effort, threat the maintenance of the biodiversity of these environments, since this fishing is not monitored, as a result of the deficiency in public management in monitoring small-scale fishing and in promoting research projects aimed at this objective. Due to the lack of detailed information on trap fisheries, this exploitation is prone to be assessed for impacts using semi-quantitative methods, built for data-poor situations. Our objective was to estimate the degree of vulnerability to trap fishing for the captured species through productivity-susceptibility analysis (PSA), based on data observed during fisheries monitoring and data obtained from the literature. Thus, it was possible to generate the necessary information to assist in the elaboration of management policies for this fishery in Northeastern Brazil. The Haemulidae family was the most abundant among the captured individuals, with Haemulon aurolineatum representing 29.7% of the sample. The PSA indicated that, although all species have high productivity, Pseudopeneus maculatus, Lutjanus synagris and Haemulon plumierii were the most vulnerable species, respectively. Furthermore, from 2000 to 2010 the trap fishing was directed to the P. maculatus; however, we verified a change in the target species, due to the biomass reduction of P. maculatus in the area. Therefore, it seems necessary to reassess this species building a management plan since they were classified by IUCN Red List as Least Concern – LC and according to results of the current study may not be the case anymore. Keywords: Data-Poor; Fishing effort; Spotted goatfish