<b> Strategy action to monitor Anchoita (Engraulis anchoita, Engraulididae, Pisces): the last small pelagic fish stock able to support a medium size scale fishery in brazilian waters </b>

Abstract

The bonaerence stock of Engraulis anchoita is distributed along the Argentinean and Uruguayan coasts as well as on the south and southeast of Brazilian coast. In Brazil it is attracting the attention of the fishing industry due to its great abundance and exploitation quite below its potential. Nowadays, there are no other species in Brazil with significant potential to sustain a commercial middle scale fishery (above 30 thousand tons/year). Only Argentina and Uruguay are fishing this stock. However, there is a great probability of an increasing pressure to fish this species by the Brazilian fleet, since on board conservation and market problems are solved. Due to the importance of anchoita as a key species in the ecosystem of the Southern Atlantic Ocean and considering the recent collapses in the stock of cogeneric small pelagics all over the world, it becomes necessary to introduce a management plan in Brazil. This would lead to one of the few cases in which exploitation of fishery resources is being managed from the very beginning. In this work, the presumed most adequate strategic survey design is described to estimate anchoita abundance with acoustics, and it is also suggested its use to subsidize future management plans