<b>An ecotrophic model of southern Brazil continental shelf and fisheries scenarios for engraulis anchoita (Pisces, engraulididae)</b>

Abstract

Ecotrophic models are becoming a useful tool to understand the structure and dynamics of aquatic ecosystems affected by fisheries. In this present paper a preliminary Ecopath model was built to allow the understanding of the structure and biomass dynamics of the Rio Grande do Sul (Brazilian southernmost state) continental shelf ecosystem. Only the main groups were included to analyse their relative importance and to test some fisheries scenarios in order to observe the consequences of fishing pressure over one particular group and the detail requirements for future models. A fishing scenario for the small pelagic anchoita (Engraulis anchoita) using Ecosim, showed that this fishery would have negative impacts on the biomass of its predators and positive impacts on the competitor fish groups also exploited and on shrimps.