Characteristics and dynamics of the fisheries for lobsters in Northeast Brazil

Abstract

This research work has been designed to characterize the production means of lobsters and to establish the patterns of  fisheries dynamics in the northern sector of Northeast Brazil. As the main outcome from the analyses, influence of the various  types of fishing craft and fishing gears on the stock abundance and the length composition should be expected to occur. The  primary conclusions which have been arrived at are as follows: (1) the lobsters caught by the different fishing gears in relation to  individual length vary according to the following decreasing order: fishing trap, gill net, aggregating divice and dive harvesting;  (2) the fisheries dynamics favors the use of sailing and motor boats depending upon the suitability of the fishing gear to operate  on the environmental conditions of the fishing grounds; (3) the seasonal pattern of the fishing trips bears out a higher catch  rate in May, and its ensuing decrease in the remaining months of the fishing season; (4) fishery homogeneity is shown to occur  over the counties of the Central Subarea, whereas the Western Subarea is represented by Acaraú and Itarema counties, and  the Eastern Subarea, by Aracati and Cascavel counties; (5) the spatial pattern of the fisheries dynamics is organized according  to two main guidelines: (a) utilization of sail craft in the central sector of the exploitation area, yielding lower catch rates; (b)  utilization of motor craft in the geographic extreme sectors of the exploitation area, yielding higher catch rates.