Technical and operation mode of fishing gear of the craft shrimp in the pink lagoon estuary of ducks, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Abstract

The artisanal fishery is one of the main economic activities in the Patos Lagoon estuary and the pink shrimp is one of the more explored species. The study objective was the description of the fishing gears employed and how they are operated at the artisanal pink shrimp fishery. The data used for the analyze come from interviews with 15 fishermen and by the accompaniment of the fishing activity in 471 places, enclosing all gears and fish areas at the period between 1999 and 2004. Technical drawings of the fishing gears used at pink shrimp fishery are provided, following recommendations of FAO, and its main characteristics had been described. Six different types of fishing gears are employed in the area, four of them considered illegal according to the current legislation. The legalized fishing gears are the fyke nets (“saquinho”) and stow nets (“saco”). “Saquinho” is the most used; it is characterized for the use of luminous attraction and the presence of funnels in the sack to maintain the shrimp trapped. “Saco” nets are set in canal zones and, its fishing action is achieved using ebb tide currents. The forbidden nets are all trawling gears, manual (“coca” and “berimbau”) or motorized (otter trawl and “pauzinho”), with nevertheless are freely utilized in the whole estuarine area. Nets manufacturing cuts and the material utilized are diverse. The use of mesh sizes below the minimum legal size is widespread, and there are several faults in the law that regulates the use of fyke nets.