Spatial management units for industrial demersal fisheries in Southeastern and southern Brazil/Unidades de manejo espacial para las pesquerías demersales de la región sureste y sur de Brasil

Most fishing management systems in the world have long assessed and managed single-stocks over very large areas. The increasing use of the oceans and the problems faced by many fisheries have increased the trend to focus on spatial-based fisheries management. Most of the Brazilian industrial fisheries concentrate in the so-called "southeastern-south region" (SE/S), a large jurisdictional area exceeding 1600 km of latitudinal extent, along which industrial demersal fishing vessels operate quite unrestrictedly, resulting in large overlapping in their catch composition and fishing areas. Despite being essentially multi-specific, management of these fisheries is focused on a few target-species, with poor results in terms of sustainability. This paper aimed at identifying possible future spatial fishing management units for the region, based on the distribution of demersal stocks, depth, bottom characteristics and fishing dynamics from double-rig, pair and stern trawlers, bottom gillneters, bottom longliners and octopus potters which were landed in Santa Catarina harbors (southern Brazil) between 2010 and 2012. Based on these data and information from existing literature, six potential spatial units were proposed at coastal (250 m). This new scheme represents a step forward in designing a final spatial management model for the SE/S industrial fisheries, improving a previous model published in the early 2000's and conforming, in general, to the three main subdivisions recognized for the South Brazil Large Marine Ecosystem.