Diagnosis of the artisanal fisheries in a brazilian semiarid reservoir

Abstract

The Brazilian Northeast has numerous small and medium reservoirs where the artisanal fisheries is one the main activities performed and with great socioeconomic importance. The objectives of this study were: report, evaluate the composition of catches, yield and productivity, and investigate the relationship of fishery yield with fishing effort and rainfall in Santa Cruz reservoir (RN). The data were obtained from January to December 2012, through monthly questionnaires, filled by 16 fishermen, totalizing 1,344 fishing trips. The number of fishermen in activity ranged from 4 to 12 per month, and density from 0.117 to 0,351 fishermen km²; the number of fishing trips ranged from 65 to 175 per month and the mean per month ranged from 12.4 to 22.8 trips per fishermen. The fishery yield was 10,335.07 kg, the productivity was 3.03 kg ha^-1 year^-1 and mean catch-per-unit effort (CPUE) of 7.45 kg fishermen^-1 day^-1 and the "peacock cichlid†(6,142.40 kg) was the main fish caught. Cluster analysis indicated differences in the composition of fishing through the year. The fishery yield was correlated with fishing effort; however, there was no correlation with rainfall. The reservoir showed low fishery yield and fishing was sustained for introduced species.