Management of the deep-sea crab fishery (Chaceon spp.) (Decapoda: Geryonidae) in southern Brazil

Abstract

Deep-sea crab fisheries in Brazil was firstly attempted in the mid 1980’s, when two foreign chartered trap vessels operated for seven months off the Brazilian southern coast. In the late 1990’s, this fishery was reinitiated in the same area, stimulated by a deepwater fishing expansion policy, implemented by the "Departamento de Pesca e Aquicultura†of the "Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento†(DPA/MAPA). As such policy was implemented, mostly from the year 2000 onwards, bottom longline, pot, trawl and gillnet fleets started their operations, being intensely monitored by both observers and Vessel Monitoring Systems, as part of a scientific cooperation program conducted by CTTMar/UNIVALI. This work was based on the monitoring of the red-crab (Chaceon notialis) and the royal-crab (C. ramosae) deep-water fishing operations conducted between January 2001 and December 2002, and presents the scientific-based management recommendation process, including: a) a description of the information sources and the operating fleet; b) a diagnosis of the monitored fisheries; c) a framework upon which the management choices were considered; and d) the management plans proposed for both species in 2002.