Artisanal fishing on the northern coast of Brazil is characterized by a set of different fishery modalities. Using a multidisciplinary approach, 20 fishery production systems were identified, with distinct characteristics regarding technology and purpose. The characteristics of each system were classified into five dimensions (ecological, economic, social, technological and political). Multidimensional scaling revealed that some of these 20 systems have greater similarities. Thus, a total of 10 groups were identified.

Virtual Population Analysis (VPA) is a diagnostic tool that providing valuable input for management decisions to sustainable catches for marine fisheries. Industrial shrimp trawling produces one of the most valuable export commodities in the Brazilian fishery sector. Due to the profitability, there is pressure on government agencies to increase the number of fishing licenses. The present study used the body-length data available for the industrial southern brown shrimp trawling fleet of the Amazon Continental Shelf (ACS), Brazil, to estimate the current maximum sustainable yield and test the potential effects of increased effort on the sustainability of this fishery. The available data encompasses 13 years of onboard monitoring of shrimp trawling. The VPA was run in an Excel spreadsheet. The results indicate that the ACS shrimp stock has high fishing (F) mortality rates, although exploitation levels can be considered adequate below the MSY. An increase of up to 40% in fishery effort – including the expansion of the number of vessels – would not result in overfishing, although we would not recommend an increase in effort, as this may increase impacts on the bycatch fauna and eventual economic losses in the event of the failure of recruitment.

The purpose of this study was to better understand the life cycle of brown shrimp along the Amazon Continental Shelf by using spatial and temporal trawl fleet activities. A total of 208,121 specimens and 1281 trawls were studied throughout the course of 13 years of shrimp size composition. To investigate differences in length composition between fishing grounds, months, and depth, a PERMANOVA analysis was employed. A geographic information system was developed for environmental characterisation and spatiotemporal trawl fleet distribution. Our findings show that the industrial trawl shrimp fleet has a close relationship with shrimp biological characteristics, following shrimp migration patterns in different months, locations, and depths during different stages of their life cycle, and that this fleet acts on two-yearly cohorts. The management measures of limiting effort (number of vessels) appear enough to avoid overcapitalisation, but the closed period and a proposed no-take fishing zone appear insufficient for what was originally proposed. Ecosystem-based management strategies should be addressed immediately because they would be far more effective than traditional fishery-based management measures in promoting sustainable fishing.

Experimental study on the efficiency of different types of traps and baits for harvesting Macrobrachium amazonicum (Heller, 1862)