Abstract

The sardine, Sardinella aurita, is the main fish resources exploited artisanally in the inshore waters of the northeastern region Venezuela. This species is used in canneries, for the elaboration of fish meal and as bait for the fishing of other species (tuna, snapper, grouper, etc.). Due to its economic and social importance, a permanent monitoring program of its fishery is conducted, based on biological and fishing data, with the purpose of interpret possible variations in its distribution and abundance, and the response of the resource under different levels of exploitation. In the present report, the variation in fishing indices is evaluated through a time series of the captures, effort and c.p.u.e. from the fishery during the last 20 years (1973-92). Some aspects of the population structure are also considered. The annual captures in the area varied between 16.000 and 80.000 t. These variations were associated with changes in the fishing effort. The c.p.u.e. changed less in the study period, with a mean value of 32 t/operation. The observed values were not correlated with the levels of effort applied. This situation is typical of under exploited populations. Considering the yields per fishing zone, Margarita Island and Caroepano presented the highest values with 39 and 34 t/operation, respectively. The size structure of the exploited population showed, at least, five modal groups, with a greater representation of sizes beyond 195 mm total length. The size of maturity of 50 % the population was 170 mm TL, taking as reference the northern zone of Araya Península.

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