Contextualization of world fisheries lobsters and trade characteristics of Scyllarides spp. and Panulirus spp. in Baixada Santista, São Paulo State, Brazil

Abstract

This study aimed to contextualize the world's lobster fishing and identify the characteristics of their trades in Santos region (SP). For this purpose, surveys about the captures of 56 years referring the families traded in the world through the informations supplied by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) were realized. To State of São Paulo, consults were made in the data base Propesq (Fishing Institute) about the fishing and prices. Besides interviews in fishmonger, businessmen of fishing and restaurants, the trade and the economical potential compared to the lobsters Scyllarides spp. and Panulirus spp. were observed. The worldwide family Nephropidae is that which has been presenting bigger growth in the captures from 1950, while the one that has the biggest observed captures, the Palinuridae, showed a little growth of the captures up to the 1980 years, and leaving from there it is oscillating without many expressive changes; Scyllarides began to stand out as fisheries only from 1970 in Asia, precisely where the other two families had low proportional catches. In the State of São Paulo, two types of lobsters are sold in Baixada Santista, with conspicuous differences in prices between them. There is also a difference in the flow of trade in relation to active fishing gear. Traders notice a decrease in both abundance and size of individuals of both genders and a clear preference to sell the slippers lobsters (Scyllarides spp.) both for the quality of meat as the lowest price.