Swordfish (Xiphias gladius) and blue shark (Prionace glauca) fishery and the dynamics of the fleet off the southeastern brazilian coast

Abstract

The swordfish (Xiphias gladius) is usually the main target of longliners in the southeast Brazilian coast. However, due to the increasing demand for shark meat and fins, the blue shark (Prionace glauca) also becomes a target of longliners. In this work, we analyzed data from 2001 to 2003 of the longline fleet based on the main harbor of the southeast coast. Three sources of information about the fishery were evaluated: interviews with fisherman, logbooks and industry production forms. The results indicated that offshore areas are exploited mainly in the 1st and 4th quarters, while fishing effort is concentrated in coastal waters in 2nd and 3rd quarters. The CPUE values of the blue shark were larger than those of the swordfish, especially in 1st quarter. The largest CPUEs of swordfish are found in 3rd quarter. The fleet dynamics seems to be guided by four factors: (a) target species, (b) favorable oceanographic and climatic conditions, (c) distance between the fishing ground and the harbor, and (d) the learning (e.g. high profitable scenario – area and quarter combination) that fisherman had in previous years.

Publication
Collective Volume of Scientific Papers, ICCAT