CPUE study on seabob shrimp fisheries of São Paulo state from 2000 to 2011

Abstract

Sea-bob-shrimp (Xiphopenaeus kroyeri) fishery is operated all over the coast off São Paulo State. For that reason, the management and supervision of those catches is necessary in order to assure the maintenance of the stocks and the stability of that activity. This paper aims to contribute to the management of the resource through the analysis of the landing dynamics of the species caught off the coast of São Paulo State from 2000 to 2011. The activity is operated by a fleet considered industrial, that comprises 15% of the productivity units and contributes with 47% of the landing production, and by an artisanal fleet that corresponds to 85% of all the productivity units and 53% of the landed shrimp. The CPUE (Catch per Unit Effort) analysis shows stability through the abundance indicator in the last years. The decrease on the number of units from the industrial fleet, probably due to the fisheries low profitability, was the most probable cause for the CPUE stability, or the fishing effort has not exceeded the sustainability limit of the sea-bob-shrimp stock off São Paulo State. The observed stability in the abundance indicator is a very promising factor, and can modify the vision of the status of the resource in different sectors of the fisheries management. It can also influence management measures that must be established with the participation of the artisanal sector, due to the contribution that the artisanal fleet presents in numbers of productivity units and in the percentage of the total of shrimp landing. That participation, although necessary, has not yet occurred.