Abstract

San Andrés island makes part of Colombian Archipiélago of San Andrés, Providencia y Santa Catalina, located in the west Caribbean. covering an area of over 250.000 km2. During august 1998 to July 1999,landings from 5 fishing areas were evaluated at the most important fishers cooperative of the island. Annual capture was estimated in 40 ton, being Thunnus atlanticus (black bonito) y Acanthocybium solandri (king fish) the most representative species, 27.94% Y 22.94% respectively, followed by Elagatis bipinnulata (ocean), Sphyraena barracuda (barracuda) y Coryphaena hippurus (dolpbin), while Carcharinidae (sharks), Carangidae (jacks) and Malraira nigricans (marlín) were pootly represented. Differences found in captures between fishing areas were due mainly to different fishing efforts and possibly to variations in resource abundance. The greatest captures were registered during the dry season (February to July), whereas during August and September an atypical behavior of the composition, relative to past years, was observed ín coincidence with anomalous meteorological conditions. Fishing effort was constant all year round although showing strong spatial distribution variations, related basically to climatologic and oceanographic prevailing conditions, and in a lesser degree, to distance to the fishing area, boat autonomy and fisher's ability. Finally, a great complexity in the catch and effort regimes was evident, depending upon multiple ambient, economic and socio-cuItural co variables, making it imperative to establish a monitoring program that permits modeling the system and defining fishery ordering strategies.

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