SAILFISH, ISTIOPHORUS PLATYPTERUS MOVEMENT PATTERN OFF NORTHERN RIO DE JANEIRO STATE, BRAZIL (2002-06)

The sailfish fisheries chart is a tool to determine the concentration areas and movement patterns of schools that are incidentally caught during migration for reproduction by boats that target mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus) and tunas (Thunnus atlanticus and T. albacares). There are 350 boats regularly operating in that studied area of the Brazilian coast. That information is based on logbooks and is related to four migratory cycles observed from 2002 to 2006. A model developed by COPPE/UFRJ was used for making the fisheries chart. The use of that chart, as a new source of information in this research, identified concentration areas and movement patterns of sailfish schools, contributing to the formulation of sustainability system of the stock that are in heavy decline. Two areas were identified, from 180o to 220o off Ilha de Cabo Frio and 100-m deep isoline. The concentrations were first found 10 miles off the coast. The incidental sailfish catches in tuna fisheries are concentrated in the same area at 90o, beginning at 70 miles off the coast, near the local oil platforms. Due to the observed spawning of the species in the studied period and local, we suggest a sailfish fishing prohibition from December to January, between 180o and 220o off Ilha de Cabo Frio, from 10 to 30 miles off the coast. This measure intends to prevent the decline of the stocks, caused specially by the tun