CHARACTERISE TO MANAGE: FIRST ANALYSIS OF SMALL-SCALE FISHERY PROFILES ON THE AMAZON COAST

Manoela Carneiro¹Luiza Prestes^2,3Benjamín Suárez⁴Ronaldo Borges Barthem⁵Dimítri de Araújo Costa^2,6,7,8*

• ¹Superintendência do Desenvolvimento da Amazônia - SUDAM, Belém, Brazil
• ²Núcleo de Ecologia Aquática e Pesca da Amazônia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia Aquática e Pesca, Universidade Federal do Pará – NEAP/PPGEAP/UFPA, Belém, Pará, Brazil
• ³Universidade Estadual do Vale do Acaraú, Sobral, Ceara, Brazil
• ⁴Instituto de Fomento Pesquero (IFOP), Valparaíso, Chile
• ⁵Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi - MPEG, Belém, Brazil
• ⁶Grupo de Investigação Biológica Integrada, Centro de Estudos Avançados da Biodiversidade, Universidade Federal do Pará – GIBI/CEABIO/UFPA, Belém, Pará, Brazil
• ⁷Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi – MPEG, Belém, Pará, Brazil
• ⁸Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto – CIIMAR/FCUP, Matosinhos, Porto, Portugal

Artisanal fishing on the coast of Pará (Eastern Amazon) is crucial for generating local income and providing food for a large consumer market. In this segment, small-scale fisheries use a bunch of tools, the main one being the gillnet, which is widely used and produces a significant number of fish. These fishermen explore different environments, often far from their port of origin; furthermore, fishing locations are decided based on empirical knowledge and environmental conditions, and this decision determines the outcome of the fishery and the profitability of each fishing expedition, including tactics and strategies used by fishermen to carry out their activities for target species. In this way, this study aims to characterise the strategies of small-scale artisanal fishermen on the Eastern Amazon, considering the fishing profiles identified. Due to the great heterogeneity of the artisanal fleet on the Amazon coast, the study selected a type of fishing defined by: (i) the size of the small-scale fishing vessels (eight to ten metres long and capable of stocking less than 5 tonnes), (ii) the crew (maximum of 5 people), (iii) the fishing gear (gillnets) and (iv) the duration of the trip (maximum of two weeks). The data used came from the Pará State Fishing Landings Monitoring System project, collected through questionnaires applied between 2008 and 2010. Landing profiles were identified using principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis. Seven consistent profiles were found for the production of this group of fishermen during the period evaluated, and they were geared towards fishing of acoupa weakfish (pescada amarela), megrim (pratiqueira), mullet (tainha) and multi-species. The profiles for serra Spanish mackerel (serra) and king weakfish (pescada gó) were only listed in 2008 and 2010, and pacora (pescada curuca) only in 2010. This study represents the first multivariate approach to characterise fishing profiles along the Eastern Amazon coast.