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Email the author (Login required) Stock assessment of the red spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) caught in the tropical southwestern Atlantic
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3856/vol43-issue1-fulltext-17
Abstract
The stocks of the red spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) (Latreille, 1804) in the Caribbean and in the Brazilian coast are of considerable economic importance. There are important genetic differences between the Brazilian and Caribbean populations, which support separated stock assessment. The present study provides an assessment of the Brazilian stock of P. argus using a biomass dynamic model based on a Bayesian approach. Assuming that the catch per unit effort is a valid index of relative abundance, the results of the analysis indicate that stocks have been heavily overexploited since the 1980s. The present-day scenario is pessimistic, and there is evidence that the stock may be close to collapse.
