Enso and crustacean populations of peru: Are the landings recordsrelated to the sea surface temperature?

摘要

The marine ecosystem of the south eastern Pacific is made up of a particular system of superficial currents that make the coasts of Chile and Peru some of the world's most productive fishing zones. Few studies have been conducted to examine the population dynamics of commercial crustaceans and ENSO. This unconcern is probably due to the low economic value of these species, when compared to other commercial ones. In this work, mean and maximum temperatures registered at the Chicama station (07 degree 41' S, 79 degree 26' W), between 1970 and 1999 were correlated with the crustacean landing records of the Instituto del Mar del Peru. We found a positive correlation between the total crustacean landings of shrimp species (Litopenaeus spp., Farfantepeneaeus californi-ensis and Xyphopeneaeus riveti) and both the annual mean temperatures (r = 0.43, p < 0.05) and the maximum temperatures (r = 0.39, P < 0.05). We also found a negative but not significant, correlation (r = -0.22 for the mean SST and r = -0.28 for the maximum SST, p > 0.05), for the crab species (Cancer sp, Platy-xanthus sp). These results coincide with earlier works that report on the increase of mortality rates and migrations to deeper water of crab species. Coincidently, during the ENSO, commercial shrimps move south from off Ecuador to off Peru, where fishers adapt their fishing arts to catch shrimp.