Effects of marine protected areas on fisheries: the case of São Paulo State, Brazil

Abstract

ABSTRACT. In 2008, the government of the São Paulo State, Brazil, established marine protected areas (MPAs) along its entire coast. Pair trawling was banned from most of these areas ever since. This study investigated how these MPAs influenced on pair trawling fleet's operational patterns and landings from 2005 to 2012 as well as on the other fleets dynamics. Landings of pair trawlers per unit effort remained stable, however, they had to look for farther fishing grounds and capture deeper and less profitable species, changing their landing composition and reducing income. Gillnet fleet, particularly, has intensified fishing in MPAs and showed an increase in catches of some species that was once targeted by pair trawlers. In this case, MPAs management acted more towards a territorial management, protecting artisanal fisheries, than in the protection of fisheries resources. Keywords: industrial fisheries, marine spatial planning, ecosystem approach to fisheries management, fishery socio-economics, southwest Atlantic Ocean. Efecto de las áreas marinas protegidas en las pesquerías: el caso delEstado de São Paulo, Brazil RESUMEN. En 2008, el gobierno del Estado de São Paulo, Brasil, estableció áreas marinas protegidas (AMPs) en toda su costa. Desde entonces se prohibió la pesca de arrastre en pareja en la mayoría de estas áreas. Este estudio investigó como las AMPs influenciaron los patrones operativos y de desembarque entre 2005 y 2012, así como también otras dinámicas de la flota de arrastre en pareja. Los desembarques de buques de arrastre en pareja por unidad de esfuerzo se mantuvieron estables; sin embargo, tuvieron que buscar áreas de pesca más lejanas y capturar especies de mayor profundidad y menos rentables, lo que cambió la composición del desembarque y redujo los ingresos. En particular, la pesca con red de enmalle ha intensificado sus actividades en las AMPs, mostrando un aumento en la captura de ciertas especies que anteriormente fueron el objetivo de buques de arrastre en pareja. En este caso, la gestión de las AMPs se orientó hacia un manejo del territorio, protegiendo la pesca artesanal, más que hacia la protección de los recursos pesqueros. Palabras clave: pesca industrial, planificación espacial marina, enfoque ecosistémico del manejo pesquero, socio-economía pesquera, Océano Atlántico Suroccidental.

The Fishery Exploitation of Acoupa Weakfish Off São Paulo Coast, Southeastern Brazil

“…However, the steep drop in Acoupa catches following the implementation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) -which banned trawling in in shallow waters (< 26 m deep) from 2007 onward -suggest that at least some of the main fishing grounds may be located off São Paulo coast. The same pattern was observed for many inshore species caught by pair trawling in this State (Rolim and Ávila-da-Silva, 2016). Double-rig trawl catches also had an abrupt drop following the establishment of the MPAs, and the high mobile nature of this fleet also prevents the identification of fishing grounds.…”

“…Acoupa weakfish yield decline in both pair and double-rig trawling vessels was likely related to the shallow-water, inshore habitat of the species (Almeida, 2016;Barletta et al, 2003;Matos and Lucena, 2006), which was protected by the bathymetric limit enforced by the MPAs (Rolim and Ávila-da-Silva, 2016). This is even more evident taking in consideration that the highest production on record was obtained in between 2004 and 2005 (> 65 trips year -1 ) -thus just before the enforcement of shallow water fishing ban -when the pair-trawling fish effort was the highest within the time series.…”

“…In fact, the frequency of gillnetting and fish pen fishing trips increased some 80% and 64.2%, respectively, following MPAs implementation, whereas pair-trawling fishing trips decreased by 88%. It may be possible that gillnetters were now able to set their nets on bottoms that were previously exploited by the trawling fishery (Rolim and Ávila-da-Silva, 2016).…”

Growth and derived life‐history characteristics of the Brazilian electric ray Narcine brasiliensis

“…Shrimp trawl fisheries also capture the species but, with a 30 mm mesh‐size, select smaller individuals (Branco et al ., 2015). Generally, the pair trawl fleet operates in deeper regions of the coast (Imoto et al ., 2016; Rolim & Ávila‐da‐Silva, 2016), whereas the shrimp trawl fishery operates in shallow coastal areas. Exacerbating the potential risk to the species is its endemism to southern Brazil and northern Argentina (Carvalho, 1999) and, aggregating these risks results in a very high likelihood that the species is in one of the IUCN Red List threatened categories.…”

Pathways for sustainable industrial fisheries in southeastern and southern Brazil

“…In that sense, Martinez-Musoles et al (2016) proposed that value, as determined by the chemical composition of different species' edible flesh, has actually driven the development of specialized slope trawl fishing off Brazil. Rolim & Ávila-da-Silva (2016) have shown that industrial trawlers experienced income reductions and changed their fishing behavior and targets in response to spatial management measures (i.e., regulations associated to a Marine Protected Area). Additionally, Pio et al (2016b) demons-trated that three gillnet fisheries (i.e., directed at whitemouth croaker, blackfin goosefish and codling, respectively) have been operating in a fragile economic and financial performance, which could only margi-nally improve if submitted to management actions involving reductions on the length of the fishing sets.…”