The population dynamics of the red porgy Pagrus pagrus along southern Brazil, before its fishery collapse in the 1980s: a baseline study

The intense exploitation since 1972 of the formerly only slightly exploited protogynous hermaphroditic fish Pagrus pagrus (L.) in southern Brazil has led in less than a decade to the collapse of the fishery, with no recovery four decades later. In this study we analized the age structure, growth, reproduction and mortality of the species were studied based on samples collected from 1976 to 1985 to provide a baseline before the onset of overexploitation. Maximum estimated ages were 21 and 26 years based on scale and otolith readings, respectively. Mean total length (TL) at age did not differ between males and females, while hermaphrodites were smaller. The von Bertalanffy growth coefficients for all fish (immature, females, hermaphrodites and males) were L∞ = 447 mm, k = 0.204 and t0 = −1.134 yr. Change in growth was observed during the study period. Females were dominant at all sizes, hermaphrodites were only present up to intermediate sizes, and males, despite being infrequent at small sizes, made up over 40% among the larger specimen (TL > 400 mm). Spawning took place mainly in late spring and condition factors were lower after spawning. Natural mortality was estimated as M = 0.173 yr−1 based on the von Bertalanffy growth parameters. Total mortality (Z) and exploitation rate (E) estimated from catch curves of fully recruited red porgies aged five to ten years increased from 0.24 yr−1 and 28% before 1973 to 0.49 yr−1 and 63% in the following years. Two distinct scale and otolith patterns, one with well-marked annuli and another with faint or absent annuli, suggested that the red porgy stock off southern Brazil might not be homogeneous and may include subpopulations that do not fully mix.