Description of the fishery of acoupa weakfish, Cynoscion acoupa , off Pará State

Abstract

Considering the socio-economic importance and the lack of information about the acoupa weakfish, Cynoscion acoupa , this research work has the objective of describing some aspects of its fishery off Pará State, Brazil. The total length of 716 specimens sampled from important landing sites was registered. Information was also obtained through detailed log books where information of the catch per fishing trip for the years of 2001 and 2002, from Belém-based fishing company, in addition to data on total catch collected by the Agriculture Ministry. The gill net used in the capture of acoupa weakfish is 4,500-4,800 m long and 5.0-6.0 m high, made out of multifilament thread, and stretched mesh size of 180 to 200 mm. In Pará State, acoupa weakfish is caught all year round, but mainly between May and August. The by-catch of the targeted fishery accounted for 52 - 66% of the total catches, being Arius parkeri, Cynoscion steindachneri, Carcharhinus sp. and Sphyrna sp. the most important species. The total length of sampled individuals varied in the range of 51 - 125 cm, whose monthly values showed a regular trend along the study period. No statistically-significant differences were found to occur for the sexual proportion.