28. Based on the fisheries and management assessments conducted by the Ad Hoc Working Group, the Secretariat introduced documents WECAFC/B-G/I/3 and WECAFC/B-G/I/4, which contained the results and management recommendations of the Ad Hoc Working Group. It was reported that during the period 1997-2000, the Ad Hoc Working Group held five shrimp assessment and management workshops to assess the abundance and status of exploitation of the shrimp stocks in the Brazil-Guianas Shelf. The Ad Hoc Working Group focused its work on the assessment of the abundance and state of exploitation of the following shrimp species: P. brasiliensis (Red or Pink spotted shrimp); P. subtilis (Brown shrimp); P. notialis (Pink shrimp); P. schmitti (White shrimp); and X. kroyeri (Seabob).
29. The conclusions and management recommendations of the Ad Hoc Working Group were as follows.
There was a consistent picture of increasing fishing mortality associated with decreases in biomass in relation to brown shrimp and pink spotted shrimp. Likely factors determining this situation were fishing mortality, increasing fishing close to the shore and environmental factors possibly linked to rainfall and resulting river flows.
Analyses conducted for brown shrimp and pink spotted shrimp gave strong indications that at the current levels of fishing effort, aggregated economic results may be below the optimum. Potential revenue was possibly being dissipated. The Ad Hoc Working Group concluded that further bio-economic analysis was needed to monitor the situation.
There was a need to critically evaluate the effectiveness of the management tools currently being used in the shrimp fisheries and how they can be improved, including effort controls, closed areas and closed seasons.
A significant fishery for seabob existed for some years in Guyana and Suriname but there was an absence of information concerning the abundance, spatial distribution and population dynamics aspects of these species at the subregional level. Basic assessment should be undertaken on seabob, as well as on white and pink shrimp in future activities of the Ad Hoc Working Group.
30. The Ad Hoc Working Group focused on the abundance and state of exploitation of Red Snapper, Lutjanus purpureus, and arrived at the following conclusions and recommendations:
the Red Snapper was a poorly regulated fishery and inadequate enforcement capability in most, if not all countries, was a serious limitation;
both coastal states and flag states needed to co-operate in controlling fishing and reducing effort;
until better information was available, fishing effort should, as a minimum be frozen and no additional effort should be allowed to enter the fishery;
in some cases, there was also a need to increase the minimum size of the fish being caught;
adequate monitoring systems need to be implemented with the full participation of both coastal and flag states; and
effective management would require the countries to co-operate in combining data and information in order to conduct a regional fisheries assessment as a basis for developing an appropriate management strategy.
31. The Ad Hoc Working Group focused on the assessment of the status of the following species. Individual countries focused their work on the species for which they had data.
Lutjanus synagris (Lane snapper, Vivaneav)
Macrodon ancylodon (Bangamary, Dagoetifi)
Micropogonias furnieri (Croaker, Cro-Cro)
Nebris microps (Butterfish, Botervis)
Cynoscion virescens (Kandratiki, Curbina)
Cynoscion jamaicensis (Gongolare, Salmon)
32. The conclusions and management recommendations of the Ad Hoc Working Group were as follows:
management was seriously hindered by lack of reliable information on important species;
results of assessments for most species, where information was available, indicated high levels of exploitation, with most stocks being fully exploited and frequently overexploited;
capture of undersized individuals was a serious problem in all countries both as by-catch and in directed fisheries;
some gears, such as chinese seines (fyke nets) and shrimp trawls, catch large numbers of undersized fish. Effort with these gears should be reduced;
technical measures, such as increase in minimum mesh size, by-catch reduction devices, time (closed seasons) and area closures, or a combination, should be introduced;
countries should sustain and improve their data collection systems and programmes;
all landings should be monitored to identify country of origin;
exchange of information, especially between flag states and coastal states, was recommended;
observer programmes should be implemented for data collection;
regular regional reconciliation of all information for accuracy and completeness should became a norm; and
since most of the resources are shared or straddling stocks, there was the need for subregional cooperation in assessment and management.
33. During the discussion that followed the presentations of the regional reviews the information and observations provided by the participants of the fishing industry in relation to the state of exploitation of the fishery resources concerned, confirmed the trends identified by the Ad Hoc Working Group as enunciated in the previous paragraphs.
34. Various hypotheses, such as pollution from anthropogenic activities, rainfall, El Niño, chemical use in agriculture, overfishing, and impact of various fishing gear and methods, were presented to explain the declining trends. However, there was no consensus on any single explanation.
