Dolphin-fishery interaction: Cost-benefit, social-economic and cultural considerations

Abstract

We evaluated dolphin-fishery interaction dynamics as well as the social-economic and cultural aspects of this relationship on the artisan fleet of the city of Vigia (Para) that fished with gill nets in the Amazon estuary from 1996 to 2001. Simple regression analyses were used to define the fishing-effort components (fishing-power and time) and to correlate fishing-effort and dolphin bycatch. Economical system and fish marketing dynamics analyses were used to define the interaction cost-benefit. The fishing-effort unit was FN x Hr and, the correlation between it and the dolphin bycatch was low, decreasing in the second period of this study. The trade of whole dolphins or their parts does not represent an important revenue factor for the fishermen and therefore should not be considered dangerous to the dolphin population. A new model of relationships among the variables of the fishery-dolphin system is presented. © 2010 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.