Marine recreational fishing and its environmental implications
CONSERVATION, MARINE SPEARFISHING, COASTAL FISHING, RECREATIONAL FISHING
In this paper, in the first chapter, was assessed the species targeted by sport spearfishermen in Brazil, divided into geographic regions (NE, SE and S), considering its trophic category and the changes of the trophy fish size over the time as possible indicators of ecological imbalance. An online questionnaire was used to support the analysis of how the fishermen acknowledge this type of fishing, the aspects of environmental conservation of this activity and the implementation of regulatory initiatives.Though fishermen considered that their fishing activity does not impact on the fish stocks, the survey results shows a downward trend in the size of the largest fish caught over time. Carnivorous fish are the preferred target of the spearfishers (coinciding with the results of hook fishing in the second chapter).
However, the regions differ in numbers of target species, where the fishermen from the Northeast aiming at a greater number of species of interest. In addition, the NE region also had the highest number of spearfishers who ignored the fishing rules or activity-specific zoning, although this type of information had been limited everywhere. In the second chapter, was analysed the saltwater flyfishing, where the fisherman tends not to select the size of the fish (hook fishing), capturing large quantities of small and immature fish. This selective removal may over time alter the structure of the food chain, the reproductive, phenotypic capacity and the genotypic characteristics of the species. The way the fishes exploit their food and the items they ingest determine their trophic level in the food chain and the concept of trophic level is relevant to improve the knowledge of the ecosystem behavior, thus representing an important indicator for assessing the interaction between fisheries and the marine ecosystem. The third chapter aims to answer whether the sport fishing is capable of causing or indicating evidence of negative effects for the ichthyofauna coastal community. The data (fish name, weight) were collected from saltwater flyfishing championships attendances. The results showed a large variation in the number of championships over the years, resulting in an increase in the number of fishes caught according to the number of championships, with a trend of increase in total catch, although the total fish weight caught by fishermen during each event has been lower. Nevertheless, the trophic level showed unstable values.The data reconstructed by this paper demonstrates an important source of information through the data gap for marine sport fishing. This gap impairs decision-making by managers and hamper the improvement of stock conservation and the marine ecosystem, so the overall results suggest the need for adequate activity regulation adapted to the characteristics of each Brazilian region including the development and effective application of the legislation in relation to the target species and a more comprehensive knowledge of the regulations applicable to marine sport fishing.