Abstract

Puerto Rico's fishery consists primarily of shallow water reef fishes and shellfish (mainly lobster and conch). The Fisheries Research Laboratory (FRL) of the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources is continuously collecting data to evaluate the status of fisheries resources. ; Throughout 1988-1992, FRL's port agents randomly selected complete samples of commercial landings around the 42 coastal municipalities to obtain landings data (pounds of fish and shellfish landed) and biostatistical data (identified individuals by species, measured in fork length and weighed). ; Parrotfishes (Scaridae) have become an important commercial fish group in Puerto Rico. In 1970, a total of 356, 305 pounds of parrotfishes were reported, representing 8% of the total catch reported of fish and shellfish. ; However, parrotfish landings have shown a decrease since 1980. In 1992, a total of 92, 136 pounds were reported in the landings, representing 5% of the total catch of fish and shellfish. Parrotfishes are caught mostly by entanglement nets (trammel net and gill net) and Antillean fish traps. From 1988-1992, the stoplight parrotfish (Sparisoma viride) and redtail parrotfish (Sparisoma chrysopterum) were the most abundant parrotfish species reported in Puerto Rico. Analysis of the 1988-1992 biostatistical data showed 100t entanglement nets caught S. viride individuals with an average fork length (FL) of 279 mm ? 35mm (mean ? 1 s.d.). The corresponding figure for S. chrysopterum was 268 mm ? 30mm. ; During the same period, traps caught individuals with an average FL of 261 ? 36mm for S. viride and 249 ? 29mm for S. chrysopterum. Analysis of length frequency distributions (LFDs) using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for S. viride and S. chrysopterum, by gear type showed that traps caught significantly (P 0.05) smaller individuals than entanglement nets for both species. ; Analysis of LFDs (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test), comparing the year 1988 versus 1992 for all gear types for S. viride and S. chrysopterum, showed 100t in 1988 commercial fishermen caught significantly (P < 0.05) larger individuals than in 1992.

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