Nueve décadas de explotación de sardina Sardinella aurita en Venezuela, revisión crítica

Abstract

The Spanish sardine Sardinella aurita, is the most important fishing resource in Venezuela, on Margarita Island it began its fishing and canning. This review estimates catch over nine decades and causes of fishing continuity. In 90 years, 4,386,758 tons were caught, a modest volume due to poor statistics. Three management ordinances have been enacted the first appeared after 40 years of activity in canning plants. The sardine industry has four periods, the first between 1927 and 1973 without fishing regulation and another three (1974-2005; 2006-2013 and 2014-2017) when the ordinances are applied. In each one the catch, annual average, operating gears, the capture per unit of effort and relevant investigations are considerate. The current regulation was based on the noticeable decrease in catches since 2005, which is why, in 2013, a ban was imposed and the minimum catch size was established at 19 cm. The regulation is ineffective because after seven years, the catches do not recover previous levels, in addition, it is incomprehensible to increase fishing gear (357 fishing in 2017). The artisanal fishing with beach seine (chinchorro) and the average maturity size of the species explain the permanence of the fishery, which endangered by the intensive use of purse seines that must be restricted.