Status of the green lobster resource Panulirusgracilis, and fishermen's perception of the fisheries of Anconcito, Province of Santa Elena

Abstract

Sampling was conducted in the coastal area of Anconcito, within a radius of up to 6 miles from the Port. Thus, 707 lobsters were measured (Panulirus gracilis) and thirteen fishing trips were conducted. Biometric relationships, structures of size, size at sexual maturity in obsters were analyzed. A total of 286 fishermen were interviewed in order to know the status of some resources from their perception. The results argue that the lobster P. gracilis reaches its sexual maturity at 23 cm of total length (± 1 cm), equivalent to 8 cm of standard length (± 0.3 cm). There is a marked growth overfishing for this species, and the scarcity of adult individuals isevidence ofrecruitment overfishing. In the opinion of fishermen, resources such as lobster (P. gracilis), shrimp (Penaeus spp.), Rock sea bass (brotula clarkae) and Perela (Paralabrax callaensis) have decreased significantly in the last ten years due to overfishing and the lack of control. We recommend the implementation of co-management system for fisheries in Ecuador, where the fisherman is the center of the model, playing a leading role and contributing with its empirical ecological knowledge to resource management.