The fishing of gilded catfish Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii (Castelnau, 1855) in the lower Amazon, Brazil

Abstract

Gilded catfish Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii (Castelnau, 1855) is a heavily exploited Amazon Basin fishing resource without management measures till nowadays. Thus, the present research aims to describe the fishing gilded catfish dynamics in the Lower Amazon, analyzing Santarém-PA fish landings. A total of 14,428 fishing landings were recorded, from January 1993 to December 2003, with a total production of 3,413 tones. The gilded catfish was caught mainly in the river channels by motorized vessels with ice storage. The main gear used are gillnets driftnet through ‘bubuia’ technique. The catch per unit effort was 13.80 kg/fisher*day. The average price of first sale ranged from R$ 2.40 to R$ 6.20 per kg. The fishing of gilded catfish (B. rousseauxii) presents a seasonal pattern associated with the hydrological cycle, in that the reduction in the level of the river includes the period of harvest. This research highlighted regional importance of this fishing resource in an era of increasing food security and human nutritional concerns, especially in developing countries.