The pink-shrimp trawling bycatch in the northern coast of São Paulo, Brazil, with emphasis on crustaceans

The pink shrimp trawling fishery (Farfantepenaeus brasiliensis and F. paulensis) in the Ubatuba region acts intensely on the populations of some benthic species. The impact of fisheries on herbenthic community is unknown. Samples of herbenthic community were obtained monthly from July/1995 to August/1996. The last haul from a commercial trawler operating on the northern coast of São Paulo State and the southern coast of Rio de Janeiro State was preserved (from being discarded) and identified at the species level. 29 species of crustaceans were found, but only Hepatus pudibundus, Callinectes ornatus, Dardanus insignis, Libinia spinosa, Sicyonia tipica, Portunus spinimanus, Portunus spinicarpus, and Persephona mediterranea had high occurrence and frequency values. Such species were the main crustacean itens in the bycatch of the pink shrimp fisheries in Ubatuba for the period of study. The total bycatch was about 1502 tons, composed by 119 tons of incidental catch and 1383 tons of discarded catch. Considering the study area, these values were quite high demonstrating that some species may have been overfishe