Resumen

VILLASMIL, Leonidas  y  MENDOZA, Jeremy. La pesquería del cangrejo callinectes sapidus (decapoda: brachyura) en el lago de maracaibo, venezuela. INCI [online]. 2001, vol.26, n.7, pp.301-306. ISSN 0378-1844.

The blue crab Callinectes sapidus fishery in Maracaibo Lake, Venezuela is described and the stock is assessed by biomass dynamic models. This fishery is regionally important due to the number of jobs created in resource extraction and processing and export earnings obtained. Catch in metric tons and catch per unit of effort (CPUE) in kg/trap cover the period 1984-1997. During this time total catches have varied between 2000 mt in 1996 and around 5400 mt in 1994. Fishing effort has increased constantly from 70000 traps in 1984 to more than 270000 traps in 1997. This has resulted in a marked reduction in CPUE from slightly less than 50 kg/trap in 1985 to less than 10 kg/trap in 1996. Data analysis by biomass dynamic models resulted in a Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) of approximately 3800 mt with a corresponding effort of around 140000 traps. Confidence intervals for MSY at the 95% level were between 3650 and 4100 mt for the process error model and between 3400 and 4300 mt for the observation error model. Catch and effort levels in recent years are exceedingly high and must be reduced to avoid over-fishing and allow for increasing resource biomass levels.

Palabras clave : Callinectes sapidus ; Pesquería ; Lago de Maracaibo .