Abstract

Composition and diversity of captures landed at eight sites of Samaná Bay and the Península of Samaná (Northeast Dominican Republic), have a close relation with the environment of the adjacent fishing grounds. The highest captures of penaeid shrimps and an estuarine ichthyofauna of demersal species of the families Centropomidae and Mugilidae, and pelagic species of family Engraulidae are landed at Sánchez, the most interior site of the Samaná Bay. Landing sites located in the middle of the bay or towards its mouth, as Las Pascualas, Los Cacaos, Samaná (North of the bay), Sabana de la Mar and Miches (South of the bay) have reduced estuarine species and demersal neritic species of the families Balistidae, Holocentridae, Lutjanidae, Serranidae or Scaridae predominate in the landings. In Las Galeras and Las Terreras, sites located towards the Atlantic Ocean in the North of the Península of Samaná, these families are also present but epipelagic species of Coryphaenidae, Istiophoridae and Scombridae attain more importance. This division, corroborated quantitatively and qualitatively by hierarchical cluster analysis, is in agreement with the fishery ecological complexes approach since estuarine littoral, seagrass-coral reefs and oceanic water complexes are present in the region. The multifaceted character of Samaná fisheries, in terms of environments, species, fishing gears and landing sites, requires for its organization and management the application of generalizing concepts to include all these elements from both a commercial and an ecological perspective.

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