Fig 1.
Spatial extent and summary statistics for the Ecuadorian artisanal fishery for large pelagics.
(a) Geographical location of longline sets. Blue dots correspond to sets by nodrizas (n = 6,821, 2007–2012; SCM captain logbook records) and red dots to independent fibras (n = 244, 2010–2013; SCM onboard observer records) (see text for fleet component descriptions); (b) number of boats by fleet class in each port (SRP-VMAP-MAGAP 2013 artisanal fishery census data). Summary statistics for the SCM dataset used in this study by fishing port (2008–2012): (c) number of trips by fleet class and (d) number of trips by gear type. LL-DOL: longline gear targeting dolphinfish; LL-TBS: longline gear targeting the tuna-billfish-shark; LL-NCL: unclassified longline gear; GN: surface gillnet; GEARoth: other gear.
Table 1.
Taxonomic table of fishes that were documented in the landings of the Ecuadorian artisanal fishery for large pelagic fishes in the ETP (SCM fishery inspection program, 2008 ‒ 2012).
The program covered the five principal ports of the fishery: Esmeraldas, San Pablo de Manta, Puerto Daniel López, Santa Rosa de Salinas and Anconcito. Catch in weight (metric tons; mt) and numbers of fish for gears combined (pelagic longline and surface gillnets) are shown for each species, as well as their percentages to the total catch. Catch is an underestimate of the fleet total; see text for details.
Fig 2.
Catch composition of the Ecuadorian artisanal fishery for large pelagics.
The information is presented by landing port and type of fishing gear (longline for dolphinfish (LL-DOL), longline for tuna-billfish-sharks (LL-TBS), and surface gillnets (GN)). The species codes can be found on Table 1. Catch is an underestimate of the fleet total; see text for details. Pie chart size has been scaled by gear, within each port, and therefore pie chart sizes cannot be compared across ports.
Fig 3.
Monthly time series of the species composition for the Ecuadorian artisanal fishery for large pelagics.
The landings data is shown by principal species group for longline (LL) and surface gillnet (GN) separated. At the right, the overall landings composition statistics are shown as pie charts by fishing gear. Catch is an underestimate of the fleet total; see text for details. The species codes can be found in Table 1. CARoth: other carcharinids. Dashed gray lines indicate the months of March and October. Tick marks on the x-axis indicate months.
Fig 4.
Regression tree for the pairwise dissimilarities computed from CPUE.
“TBS hook”: tuna/billfish/shark hook; “DOL hook”: dolphinfish hook; “Lat”: latitude; “Lon”: longitude; “SST”: sea surface temperature. Tree partitions after the first split of the data are only labeled with the left-side split definition. Tree branch length is proportional to variance explained. Each terminal node is labelled with a measure of node variability (node deviance divided by the number of trips), and in parentheses, the number of trips. The terminal node labels DOL-1, DOL-2, and DOL-3 correspond to areas shown in the map of Fig 5. The terminal node labels TBS-1, TBS-2, TBS-3, and TBS-4 correspond to the areas shown in the map of Fig 6.
Fig 5.
Average CPUE by species with bootstrap approximate 95% confidence intervals (see text for details) associated with the terminal nodes of the regression tree (Fig 4) under “DOL hook”.
CPUE is shown in mt per 1000 hooks. The map shows the location of the tree spatial partitions under “DOL hook”. “SST”: sea surface temperature.
Fig 6.
Average CPUE by species with bootstrap approximate 95% confidence intervals (see text for details) associated with the terminal nodes of the regression tree (Fig 4) under “TBS hook”.
CPUE is shown in mt per 1000 hooks. The map shows the location of the tree spatial partitions under “TBS hook”. “Lat”: latitude; SST: sea surface temperature.
Fig 7.
Main surface current systems of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean (ETP) [22].
Reproduced with permission.
Fig 8.
Spatio-temporal distribution of the catches by the Ecuadorian artisanal longline fishery targeting dolphifih (C. hippurus, DOL) for fishing year 2011 ‒ 2012.
The area of the pies is proportional to the DOL catch rates. The monthly maximum total CPUE (“Max”; in mt per 1000 hooks, rounded to the nearest whole ton) is shown in the lower-left corner of each figure.
Fig 9.
Spatio-temporal distribution of the catches by the Ecuadorian artisanal longline fishery targeting tuna-billfish-sharks (TBS) for fishing year 2011 ‒ 2012.
The area of the pies is proportional to the catch rates of four main species groups (dolphifish, tuna, billfish and sharks). The monthly maximum total CPUE (“Max”; in mt per 1000 hooks, rounded to the nearest whole ton) is shown in the lower-left corner of each figure.
Fig 10.
Spatio-temporal distribution of the principal shark species in catches by the Ecuadorian artisanal longline fishery targeting tuna-billfish-sharks (TBS) for fishing year 2011 ‒ 2012.
The area of the pies is proportional to the catch rates of the four principal shark species (pelagic threasher shark (PTH), blue shark (BSH), silky shark (FAL) and hammerhead sharks (HH)). The monthly maximum total CPUE (“Max”; in mt per 1000 hooks, rounded to the nearest whole ton) is shown in the lower-left corner of each figure.
Fig 11.
Spatio-temporal distribution of the principal billfish species in catches by the Ecuadorian artisanal longline fishery targeting tuna-billfish-sharks (TBS) for fishing year 2011 ‒ 2012.
The area of the pies is proportional to the catch rates of the four principal billfish species (blue marlin (BUM), swordfish (SWO), stripped marlin (MLS) and Indo-Pacific sailfish (SFA)). The monthly maximum total CPUE (“Max”; in mt per 1000 hooks, rounded to the nearest whole ton) is shown in the lower-left corner of each figure.
Fig 12.
Spatio-temporal distribution of the principal tuna species in catches by the Ecuadorian artisanal longline fishery targeting tuna-billfish-sharks (TBS) for fishing year 2011 ‒ 2012.
The area of the pies is proportional to the catch rates of the three principal tuna species (yellowfin (YFT), skipjack (SKJ), and bigeye tuna (BET). The monthly maximum total CPUE (“Max”; in mt per 1000 hooks, rounded to the nearest whole ton) is shown in the lower-left corner of each figure.