Contribution of remote sensing in fishery ecosystem management of San Matias Gulf, Argentina.

OCAMPO REINALDO, MATÍAS; WILLIAMS, GABRIELA NOEMÍ; ROMERO, ALEJANDRA; NARVARTE, MAITE; GONZÁLEZ, RAÚL; GAGLIARDINI, DOMINGO ANTONIO

Kochi, India

Simposio; Remote Sensing and Fisheries International Simposium; 2010

SAFARI

The San Matias Gulf, located in northern Patagonia on the southern Atlantic Ocean, is the second largest gulf of Argentina with an area of around 20,000 km2. One of its main characteristics is the presence of abundant biological resources of fishing interest, in particular the Argentine hake Merluccius hubbsi. This gulf presents different environment scenarios generated by physical, weather and topographic conditions that influence the behavior and productivity of this resource. The identification and characterization of these scenarios with the objective of linking environmental and biological-fisheries data have been the main task of multidisciplinary studies carried out since 2004. Temporal series of SST maps obtained from AVHRR sensors and chlorophyll-a maps from SeaWiFS, and data from a bottom trawl fishing fleet, were analyzed. This procedure generated two main results. The first one showed that in spring-summer a thermal front divides the gulf into two regions: the northern region, with higher temperatures and lower chlorophyll-a concentration, and the southern region, with the opposite pattern. Secondly, a strong association between the dynamics of the bottom trawl fleet and the position of this thermal front was identified. Both results are important inputs for designing measures to achieve the implementation of a Fishery Ecosystem Management framework of the San Matias Gulf.