Small-scale fisheries have been typically data-limited despite their economic importance for local communities. This is especially true in zones where fishing operations occur in remote areas under harsh weather conditions. Crab fishery in Chile is exclusively artisanal, and marble crab (Metacarcinus edwardsii) has the highest landing records. This species is found in most parts of the coast of Chile, but it is mainly caught in the south of the country (including Patagonia). Fishery management is data-limited, and monitoring has not established the spatial and temporal variability baseline necessary to determine its exploitation status. This fishery is currently evaluated annually under a scheme based on reporting biological and fishery information, primarily from the landing ports and secondarily from fishing grounds. In the present study, we collected data from fishing grounds on board artisanal fishing vessels around 45°S during an annual cycle to establish indicators based on catch per unit effort (above and below minimum legal size), size, sex ratio, and the relationship between weight and size. Our results showed that fishery and biological indicators respond more to seasonal patterns than to expected spatial heterogeneity related to different fishing grounds: proportional stock density (lowest in winter), sex ratio (biased toward males in winter), retained catch (highest in autumn), and released catch (highest in winter), while the average size of the largest 10% of the sample only showed differences between males and females. Additionally, released catch varied according to soak time, which indicates the effectiveness of escape rings incorporated in the traps. These results lead to recommendations related to the current monitoring program, which should include the selection of a limited number of fishing grounds standardized by season and the incorporation of information related to soak time and the presence of escape rings. Finally, this study highlights the importance of on-board scientific monitoring for any fisheries, even those of small scale.

中文翻译：

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巴塔哥尼亚北部小规模大理石蟹渔业的生物和渔业指标：改进数据有限渔业监测计划和种群评估的建议


尽管小规模渔业对当地社区具有重要的经济意义，但其数据通常有限。在恶劣天气条件下的偏远地区进行捕鱼作业的地区尤其如此。智利的螃蟹渔业完全是手工捕捞，大理石蟹（Metacarcinus edwardsii）的上岸记录最高。该物种在智利海岸的大部分地区都有发现，但主要在该国南部（包括巴塔哥尼亚）捕获。渔业管理数据有限，监测尚未建立确定其开发状况所需的空间和时间变异基线。目前，该渔业每年根据一项基于报告生物和渔业信息的计划进行评估，主要来自登陆港，其次来自渔场。在本研究中，我们在年度周期内收集了南纬 45° 附近手工渔船渔场的数据，以建立基于单位努力渔获量（高于和低于最低法定规模）、规模、性别比例和关系的指标重量和尺寸之间。我们的结果表明，渔业和生物指标对季节性模式的反应比对不同渔场相关的预期空间异质性的反应更大：种群密度比例（冬季最低）、性别比例（冬季偏向雄性）、保留渔获量（秋季最高） ，并释放渔获量（冬季最高），而样本中最大 10% 的平均大小仅显示出雄性和雌性之间的差异。此外，释放的捕获物根据浸泡时间而变化，这表明捕获器中包含的逃生环的有效性。 这些结果产生了与当前监测计划相关的建议，其中应包括选择按季节标准化的有限数量的渔场，并纳入与浸泡时间和逃生环的存在相关的信息。最后，这项研究强调了船上科学监测对任何渔业（即使是小规模渔业）的重要性。