Fishing and Management of the Clam (Anomalocardia brasiliana) (Bivalvia: Veneridae) in the Pirajubaé Marine Extractive Reserve, SC, Brazil

Abstract

The Marine Extractive Reserve of Pirajubaé (MER) is located in the urban area of Florianópolis city (capital of Santa Catarina State, Southern Brazil), and has the bivalve known as “berbigão” (Anomalocardia brasiliana) as its main fishing resource. Based on 100 daily surveys carried out during 2005, this paper describes the berbigão fishery and presents the history of its management. A hand dredge (“gancho”) was used by 22 men and four women to catch the berbigão. The fishery is conducted predominantly in the morning and under water depths between 20 and 50 cm. On average, each fisherman swept 469.2 m2 with the dredge and caught 270.5 kilograms of live clams per fishing day, summing up 888.6 t landed in the RESEX along 2005. More than 97% of the individuals in the catch exceeded the minimum legal size (20 mm total length). However, both individual size and total biomass of the stock reduced significantly over time. Most of the catch was processed (i.e. cooked and unshelled) and sold to very few buyers. Current management measures include: a) maximum number of authorized fisherman; b) days of the week and times of the day when the fishery is allowed; c) minimum distance between the iron bars in the ganchos’ basket; d) minimum legal size; e) space-time rotation of fishing areas and, f) reporting of daily production data. In spite of the large volume of scientific and traditional knowledge available and the existence of management rules discussed and approved on a participatory system, both the berbigão sustainability and the RESEX as a whole are threatened by administrative, social, economic, environmental and bureaucratic pressures. Neutralize such threats is a key challenge to be faced in this important federal conservation area of Southern Brazil.