Stock assessment of the peacock bass Cichla temensis (Humboldt, 1821), an important fishing resource from the middle Negro river, Amazonas, Brazil

Abstract

Peacock bass Cichla temensis is an important species at the Amazon basin, since commercial, subsistence and recreational fisheries simultaneously exploit it. Cichla temensis is the preferred species by recreational fishers and it has been strongly exploited, mainly at the Negro river, the second largest tributary of the Amazon River. It was used data from experimental fisheries, collected at the middle stretch of Negro river, which were coupled with previously published data on its population dynamics, to run a yield per recruit model and build scenarios of sustainable fisheries. The results showed that the age of the first catch is a key variable to successful management of the peacock bass stocks at this region.

Effects of Fishing on the Population of Speckled PavonCichla temensisin the Middle Negro River (Amazonas State, Brazil): A Decrease in the Size of the Trophy Fish?

“…There is evidence of decreases in size and abundance due to excessive fishing of stocks of Tambaqui Colossoma macropomum (Isaac and Ruffino 1996;Batista and Petrere 2003;Garcez and Freitas 2011;Campos et al 2015), Cichla monoculus (Campos and Freitas 2014), and Speckled Pavon of the middle Negro River region. Campos et al (2019) found that the greater the fishing effort, the lower the yield per recruit.…”

“…The effects of the two fishing modalities are evident and they act in synergy on stocks, increasing the effort and decreasing the fishing yield (Petrere 1983; Isaac and Ruffino 1996; Campos et al. 2015, 2019).…”

“…In the Barcelos region, the increase in fishing intensity has been associated with the entry of fishers from the commercial fleet of Manaus (Barra et al 2010;Silva 2011;Silva and Begossi 2013) and the increase in the number of companies offering recreational fishing trips in the region. The effects of the two fishing modalities are evident and they act in synergy on stocks, increasing the effort and decreasing the fishing yield (Petrere 1983;Isaac and Ruffino 1996;Campos et al 2015Campos et al , 2019.…”

SPATIAL AND SEASONAL VARIATION OF PEACOCK BASS (<i>Cichla</i> spp.) FISHERY: AN ANALYSIS OF CATCHES LANDED IN MANAUS, AMAZONAS STATE, BRAZIL

“…The fishing yield of peacock bass is consistently higher in blackwater environments when compared to those in whitewater ones. Amazonian blackwater rivers host several species of peacock bass, including Cichla temensis, which is the largest of all (Holley et al, 2008;Campos et al, 2019) and is the main target species for recreational fishers (Barroco et al, 2018). Nevertheless, it is important to clarify that some fishing grounds, which are classified as blackwater environments, are rivers and their associated lakes with headwaters in the Amazon sedimentary plain, which are different from the true blackwater systems with headwaters in the Guyana Plateau.…”

Length-weight relationships of fish from sandy beaches

“…The Negro River is one of the main tributaries of the Amazon River (Junk et al, 2015), and its diversity of fish is among the richest so far reported in the world (Roberts, 1972;Saint-Paul et al, 2000;Soares and Yamamoto, 2005). As such, it is of major importance to the region, with species with great ornamental (Olentino et al, 2020) and commercial (Inomata and Freitas, 2018) potential, as well as for recreational fisheries (Furtado, 2020;Campos et al, 2020).…”