Guidelines for fishery management of decapod crustaceans affected by the ENSO.

SOTELANO, M.PAULA; GUSTAVO ALEJANDRO LOVRICH

Lima, Perú

Simposio; INCO-UE-CENSOR Endterm Symposium; 2008

Regulations for the decapod-fishery management need biological bases that allow a sustainableexploitation. Crabs of the Eastern Pacific are targeted species of artisanal fishers, landings are minutecompared to traditional fisheries, and some species are caught on an opportunistic strategy. Hencemost of the species lack of formal management rules, yet annual landings reach ca. 300 t. We presentthe available biological information on crabs Cancer setosus (=C. polyodon), C. edwardsi, Homalaspisplana, C. porteri, C. coronatus, Platyxanthus orbignyi, and shrimps Penaeus vannamei andXiphopenaeus riveti. With very few exemptions basic information and management rules are lacking.In Chile and for the three first aforementioned species, the only restriction is to land crabs >120 mmCW, including non-ovigerous females. In C. porteri the only restriction is the prohibition of femalelandings. In Perú, there are no management rules, neither for crabs nor shrimps. Formal studies onsizes at maturity, growth, reproductive cycle, fecundity, recruitment to the population and to the fisheryare needed to establish robust rules to manage these populations. Under a precautionary concept, itseems that the adoption of the 3S rule (sex, season and size) based on actual biological data shouldbe effective enough for managing crab fisheries along the Pacific coast of South America.