Abstract

The Wildlife Refuge and Fishing Reserve ‘Ciénaga de Los Olivitos’ is located in the northeastern side of Lake Maracaibo. It is an area under Special Management Regime, for the protection of wildlife and marine fauna. However, the exploitation of fishing resources is intensive in the area, since many year ago, with little knowledge of biology of these resources. The purpose of the present report is to perform an analysis of the fisheries in the zone. Information was obtained in the field, by samplings in the landings harbours and survey of vessels and fishings gear. The vessels, known as ‘chalanas’, are made with wood, with length from 6 to 11 m., propelled by outboard engines from 25 to 75 Hp. Two fleets can be identifed, according to target resources: the shrimp fleet and the fish fleet. Shrimps are captured using purse seines (known as ‘mandingas’), where as the fish are captured by drift nets, with mesh froom 2,5 to 10 in. Landings show that the white shrimp, Penaeus schmitti , and the mullet, Mugil spp., represent 34.18% and 31.18% respectively, of the total catch. The analysis of the size structure of the main species exploited suggest an intensive exploitation.

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