Fishing fleet, gears and methods used for catching spiny lobsters off Ceará State, Brazil

Abstract

This work presents an analysis of the fishing fleet that landed lobsters at the harbors of Ceará State, Brazil from 1991 to 1995, as well as makes a detailed description of the fishing gears and methods. The fleet is comprised of about 2,000 boats made out of artisanal sailboats and canoes (49.1%) and industrial motorized boats (50.9%), with hulls of wood and steel, the latter amounting to only 2.7% of all fishing craft. The majority (84.5%) of boats measure up to 12 m in overall length and are concentrated in the counties of Aracati, Beberibe, Trairi, Acaraú and, specially, Icapuí. Four different fishing gears/methods are used in the lobster fishery, namely gillnets, traps (with one and two entrances) and diving with aid of a compressor. The gillnet is the most used gear. The lobster fishing occurs primarily in the three first months of the open season, that is May, June and July, although some boats operate, illegaly, all year round. When the yields lessen in nearshore fishing grounds, the lobster boats are deployed to far away grounds that may be distributed along the continental shelf of more than one county and/or state. Interstate migration of the fishing fleet was found to undergo a substantial increase along the studied period.