Multidimensional analysis of fishery production systems in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil

Abstract

A total of 17 fishery systems covering gillnets, traps and seines targeting fish and crustaceans as well as hand-collected mussels in the state of Pernambuco (Brazil) were compared and analyzed in the present study using the RAPFISH method and 57 attributes to qualify five evaluation dimensions: economic, social, ecological, technological and management. The aim was to determine the sustainability of each field from the fishery (i.e. stocks) and social standpoint (i.e. fishermen). With regard to sustainability, it was generally apparent that the fisheries analyzed are far from any ideal that would permit long-term exploitation, but are nonetheless also distant from the extremes of non-sustainability in the environments investigated. The low degree of organization demonstrated in most fisheries of Pernambuco and the low level of schooling among the fishermen contribute toward maintaining the status quo, with an increase in situations of conflict and a lack of valorization regarding the activities. The shrimp system is the least sustainable, mainly due to its environmental impact; however, this is compensated by the relatively higher quality of living provided stakeholders through its exploitation. The evaluation dimensions showed the most sustainable system in Pernambuco to be the stationary Ôuncovered pound netÕ, followed by the line system. Alternative procedures for integrated fishery management, such as an increase in statistical data, coastal zoning to limit shrimp farms and establishing protected areas are proposed and discussed. Such procedures may contribute toward the formulation of public policies for the fishery industry of the state, which is essentially made up of artisanal fisheries with low yields and exercised by the 11 926 fishermen affiliated with coastal fishing colonies.

Assessing the stocks of the primary snappers caught in Northeastern Brazilian Reef Systems. 2-A multi-fleet age-structured approach

“…New approaches are urgently needed to provide a sound basis for management advice on reducing fishing effort levels. Innovative approaches in Brazil are based on the Rapid fisheries appraisal, Rapfish (Pitcher and Preikshot, 2001), which compiled ecological, technological, sociological and economic information and revealed new insights that traditional stock assessments would not have detected (Isaac et al, 2009;Lessa et al, 2009).…”

Validating RAPFISH sustainability indicators: Focus on multi-disciplinary aspects of Indian marine fisheries

“…ecological, economical, technological, social and ethical. To adapt RAPFISH analysis for the present study, attributes were chosen from different sources [6,14,18,19,27,28]. It has to be noted that though a recent version of RAPFISH methodology 1 is available [29], the present study used an older version [6] of RAPFISH.…”

“…RAPFISH evaluates the sustainability of fisheries under multiple dimensions to assess the status of small scale fisheries [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] and some industrial fisheries [22]. It is also used to track changes in fishery status with time and under alternative management scenarios [23,24].…”

Improvements to Rapfish: a rapid evaluation technique for fisheries integrating ecological and human dimensionsa

“…12 years (Pitcher et al ., ; Pitcher & Preikshot, ). Rapfish evaluates fisheries sustainability along multiple performance modalities and has been especially useful not only in small‐scale fisheries (Preikshot et al ., ; Preikshot & Pauly, ; Baeta et al ., ; Tesfamichael & Pitcher, ; Isaac et al ., ; Lessa et al ., ; Allahyari, 2010 a , b ) but also in some industrial fisheries (Murillas et al ., ). It has been used to track changes in fishery status with time and under alternative management scenarios (Pitcher et al ., ; Pauly & Chuenpagdee, ; Lessa et al ., ).…”