The Fishing Productivity Assessement Upstream and Downstream of Tucuruí Hydroeletric Dam, Tocantins-Araguaia basin, Brazil

Abstract

The Tocantins-Araguaia basin is the second largest in Brazil and the most extensive in the drainage area totally placed in Brazilian territory. A time series of fishery production of more than 30 years of Tucuruí Hydroeletric dam, between 1981 and 2016, in low Tocantins, in ten landing harbor (five upstream and five downstream) was analyzed to compare productivity and indicate suggestions for better planning and public policies focused on the fishery resources in this basin. After analyzing over 16,000 landing data, CPUE (kg / day) indicated that after an exponential growth upstream in the first 15 years of the dam, there was a decline trend in fish stocks up to 2016, mainly upstream. The biodiversity of the ichthyofauna was higher downstream and Mapará H. marginatus was the main species captured. It is concluded that the maintenance and accessibility by society of a program to monitoring landings in the region, as well as studies of population dynamics in order to better plan the fishing effort, is fundamental. It should also be emphasized that environmental education should focus on the involvement of fishing communities, alerting public managers about the importance of knowledge about productivity and that the decline trend of upstream stocks should be considered in the formulation or incentive of policies aimed at development of artisanal fisheries on Tocantins-Araguaia basin.