Lane Snapper, Mutton Snapper, Yellowtail Snapper Brazil
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Lane snapper, Mutton snapper, Yellowtail snapper Lutjanus synagris, Lutjanus analis, Ocyurus chrysurus Image © Diane Rome Peebles Brazil Trap, Handline March 11, 2016 Fabio Caltabellotta, Ludmila Damasio, Daniele Vila Nova, Independent Research Analysts Disclaimer: Seafood Watch® strives to have all Seafood Reports reviewed for accuracy and completeness by external scientists with expertise in ecology, fisheries science and aquaculture. Scientific review, however, does not constitute an endorsement of the Seafood Watch® program or its recommendations on the part of the reviewing scientists. Seafood Watch® is solely responsible for the conclusions reached in this report. 2 About Seafood Watch® Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch® program evaluates the ecological sustainability of wild-caught and farmed seafood commonly found in the United States marketplace. Seafood Watch® defines sustainable seafood as originating from sources, whether wild-caught or farmed, which can maintain or increase production in the long-term without jeopardizing the structure or function of affected ecosystems. Seafood Watch® makes its science-based recommendations available to the public in the form of regional pocket guides that can be downloaded from www.seafoodwatch.org. The program’s goals are to raise awareness of important ocean conservation issues and empower seafood consumers and businesses to make choices for healthy oceans. Each sustainability recommendation on the regional pocket guides is supported by a Seafood Report. Each report synthesizes and analyzes the most current ecological, fisheries and ecosystem science on a species, then evaluates this information against the program’s conservation ethic to arrive at a recommendation of “Best Choices,” “Good Alternatives” or “Avoid.” The detailed evaluation methodology is available upon request. In producing the Seafood Reports, Seafood Watch® seeks out research published in academic, peer-reviewed journals whenever possible. Other sources of information include government technical publications, fishery management plans and supporting documents, and other scientific reviews of ecological sustainability. Seafood Watch® Research Analysts also communicate regularly with ecologists, fisheries and aquaculture scientists, and members of industry and conservation organizations when evaluating fisheries and aquaculture practices. Capture fisheries and aquaculture practices are highly dynamic; as the scientific information on each species changes, Seafood Watch’s sustainability recommendations and the underlying Seafood Reports will be updated to reflect these changes. Parties interested in capture fisheries, aquaculture practices and the sustainability of ocean ecosystems are welcome to use Seafood Reports in any way they find useful. For more information about Seafood Watch® and Seafood Reports, please contact the Seafood Watch® program at Monterey Bay Aquarium by calling 1-877-229-9990. 3 Guiding Principles Seafood Watch defines sustainable seafood as originating from sources, whether fished1 or farmed that can maintain or increase production in the long-term without jeopardizing the structure or function of affected ecosystems. Based on this principle, Seafood Watch had developed four sustainability criteria for evaluating wild- catch fisheries for consumers and businesses. These criteria are: How does fishing affect the species under assessment? How does the fishing affect other, target and non-target species? How effective is the fishery’s management? How does the fishing affect habitats and the stability of the ecosystem? Each criterion includes: Factors to evaluate and score Guidelines for integrating these factors to produce a numerical score and rating Once a rating has been assigned to each criterion, we develop an overall recommendation. Criteria ratings and the overall recommendation are color coded to correspond to the categories on the Seafood Watch pocket guide and the Safina Center’s online guide: Best Choice/Green: Are well managed and caught in ways that cause little harm to habitats or other wildlife. Good Alternative/Yellow: Buy, but be aware there are concerns with how they’re caught. Avoid/Red: Take a pass on these for now. These items are overfished or caught in ways that harm other marine life or the environment. 1 “Fish” is used throughout this document to refer to finfish, shellfish and other invertebrates. 4 Table of Contents About Seafood Watch® ................................................................................................................................. 2 Guiding Principles ......................................................................................................................................... 3 Summary ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 7 Assessment ................................................................................................................................................. 15 Criterion 1: Stock for which you want a recommendation ..................................................................... 15 Criterion 2: Impacts on Other Species .................................................................................................... 23 Criterion 3: Management effectiveness ................................................................................................. 51 Criterion 4: Impacts on the habitat and ecosystem................................................................................ 58 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................... 62 References .................................................................................................................................................. 63 5 Summary This report evaluates the main commercial snapper species—lane snapper (Lutjanus synagris), yellowtail snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus), and mutton snapper (Lutjanus analis)—that are exported from Brazil to the U.S. market. These species are mainly caught by the artisanal fishery of the Northeast and Southeast region of Brazil with handlines and traps. In terms of biomass, yellowtail snapper accounted for 20% of landings (approximately 1,951 metric tons (MT) in 2011); lane snapper accounted for 50% of landings (4,988 MT in 2011); and mutton snapper accounted for 30% of landings (approximately 3,015 MT in 2011). Landings of snappers have decreased for the last decade in the Northeast and Southeast regions of Brazil, while remaining steady in the North region. During 1998–2007, the state of Ceará was responsible for approximately 35% of all snapper landings, followed by the state of Espirito Santo with 16% and the state of Bahia with 15%. Fishing mortality rates for all three snapper species indicate clear signs of overexploitation in Brazil, calling for management actions. But most landing reports in Brazil place these species in broader categories (i.e., labeling them “snappers” instead of with species names), which restricts the reliability of these data. Fishing gears (handline and traps) evaluated in this assessment have showed significant differences related to bycatch and their impact on the sea floor. Handline is considered a low-bycatch fishery and does not impact the sea floor. But such fisheries in Brazil target species that are reported to be in decline. These species include key functional groups that play an important role in the top-down control of other species. On the other hand, trap fisheries are more common in the Northeastern region of Brazil and, unlike handlines, this gear type reaches the seafloor of rocky bottom and coral reefs. Information on the bycatch of this fishery includes ornamental reef fish and some elasmobranchs. There have been no recent catch or landings data for both fisheries at a country level since 2011; however, some updates for catch data can be obtained through survey operations. For management control, Marine Protected Areas—although few in number along the Brazilian coastline (currently making up only 2% of the entire Exclusive Economic Zone)—have been shown to improve fish stocks when enforcement exists, particularly in no-take MPAs (less than 0.2% of EEZ). Due to these factors mentioned and more detailed information in the report, Seafood Watch categorizes snapper caught in Brazil on the Avoid list. 6 Table of Conservation Concerns and Overall Recommendations Stock / Fishery Impacts on Impacts on Management Habitat and Overall the Stock other Spp. Ecosystem Recommendation Mutton snapper Red (1.41) Red (1.41) Red (1.00) Yellow (2.92) Avoid (1.554) Brazil Atlantic - Handline Mutton snapper Red (1.41) Red (1.41) Red (1.00) Yellow (2.55) Avoid (1.503) Brazil Atlantic - Trap Lane snapper Red (1.73) Red (1.41) Red (1.00) Yellow (2.92) Avoid (1.635) Brazil Atlantic - Handline Lane snapper Red (1.73) Red (1.41) Red (1.00) Yellow (2.55) Avoid (1.581) Brazil Atlantic - Trap Yellowtail snapper Red (1.41) Red (1.41) Red (1.00) Yellow (2.92) Avoid (1.554) Brazil Atlantic - Handline Yellowtail snapper Red (1.41) Red (1.41) Red (1.00) Yellow (2.55) Avoid (1.503) Brazil Atlantic - Trap Scoring Guide Scores range from zero to five where zero indicates very poor performance and five