História de vida e vulnerabilidade de tubarões oceânicos (Elasmobranchii) do atlântico sul

Abstract

A great diversity of sharks has been explored by modern fisheries, regularly caught as by-catch and after the decade of 1990’s as target species, mainly due to the high value of their fins in the international market. This species group is characterized by slow growth, late maturity, high longevity, low rates of fertility and productivity that implies in low potential of replacement for most species, resulting in serious implications for the sustainability of populations and also for fishing. Coastal nations of the South Atlantic (Brazil, Uruguay, South Africa and Namibia) have historically (since the 50s) given its ports to traditional longline fleets (mainly from Asia and the European Union) in order to exchange technology to develop their own fleets through a policy known as leasing. Declines of commercial species such as tuna and swordfish elsewhere, moreover divisions of fishing quotas established by the ICCAT, main RFMO in Atlantic, were responsible for the introduction of at least 20 different pelagic longline fleets. Pelagic longline fishing are demonstrably associated with declines in abundance of many species of oceanic sharks in various locations around the world. However information on the South Atlantic is incipient, with few studies focusing on more abundant species such as the blue shark. This thesis gathers information about catches and life history collected from the main monitoring fishing agencies from Brazil, in order to identify population trends and conservation status for main species caught in the South Atlantic. In the first chapter, we address the age and growth of the shortfin mako shark, because growth of this specie had not yet been studied in our study area. In Chapter 2, we discuss the history of fishing as well the different phases of exploitation focused in western and central South Atlantic, resulting in the identification of trends in exploitation and thus, abundances of key species. The third chapter addresses the vulnerability of this group of species through the use of different demographic methods. Overall our results show that most species analyzed are depleted and seriously threatened by pelagic longline fishing, which still lacks adequate monitoring and control in the South Atlantic.