The physiography influence on small-scale fishery strategies and attributes in southern Brazil

Abstract

It was investigated the hypothesis that small scale fisheries attributes, including types of boats, gears and fish caught, depend on the degree of difficulty that fishermen find for accessing marinas and save their boats. Data were obtained from 2001 to 2006 by direct observations, interviews with fishermen, and landing surveys. Seven communities were placed in two groups: "protected" like estuaries and coves, where physical elements reduce the energy of waves, and "exposed" normally open beaches without a physical barrier. Both groups were compared to each other according to the fleets and gears used in the fishing activities. Boats were classified in five categories, and each one of them was analyzed with regard to the community group and type of gears. Thirteen types of fishing gears were identified and 87 types of taxonomic categories ("fishâ€Â) were linked to them. Such occurrence of "fish†per gear and season pointed out six groups "gears, seasonsâ€Â. It was concluded that in the studied region, physiography actually acts on the type of boats used in fishing activities; however it does not act on fish gears and, consequently, exploited resources. Boat size is not the only attribute determining fisheries performed by a community, because communities presenting different physiography, in spite of their different fleets, can share the same target species.