ANALYSIS OF THE SANTOS FLEET FROM SÃO PAULO, SOUTHERN BRAZIL (1971-1999)

SUMMARY Blue marlin (Makaira nigricans), white marlin (Tetrapturus albidus), and sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus) are caught off the south and southeast Brazilian coasts by Brazilian and leased (Honduras and Barbados flags) longliners of Santos city, Sao Paulo State, Brazil. This paper reports statistics for the Santos fleet including blue marlin, white marlin and sailfish annual yield for 1971-99, monthly yield for 1995-97, annual CPUE for 1995-99, and average weight of white marlin for 1992-95. White marlin annual yield showed an increasing trend from 1971 to 1991, followed by a gradual decline until 1999. The annual average dressed weight of white marlin showed a decrease from 24.0-27.7 kg in the 1971-84 period, to 18.6 kg in 1995. Blue marlin was much more susceptible to the shallow longline gear than it was to the regular longline, showing a large increase in yield and CPUE from 1995 to 1999, mainly between January and March (Summer). A comparison of the three fleets showed that Brazilian longliners had the highest CPUE for white marlin and sailfish. For blue marlin, the greatest values of CPUE corresponded to Brazilian longliners in 1995, Barbados longliners in 1996 and 1998, and Honduras longliners in 1997. Sailfish yields presented a dramatic decline from 1976 to 1999 and the highest sailfish catches occurred in December and January. The length/weight relationships obtained were, for white marlin: Wt = 1.05 x 10 -5 LJFL 2.89 , for blue marlin: Wt = 9.07 x 10 -7 LJFL 3.44 , and for sailfish: Wt = 4.95 x 10 -6 LJFL 2.99 . Information about Brazilian sport fisheries is also presented.