A pesca do tamoatá Haplosternum litorale (Hancock, 1828) (Siluriformes : Callichthyidae), na ilha de Marajó-Foz Amazônica

Abstract

Hoplosternum littorale (Hancock, 1828) (Siluriformes, Callichthyidae) is a small catfish known in Brazilian Amazon as tamoatá. It is the main fisheries resources in the swamps and floodplain of the Marajó Island, especially in the Arari Lake and Arari River, near the Santa Cruz do Arari city. The inland Marajó fishery is described based in the field observation and local fishermen interview. The seine and gillnet are the most important fishing gears used by the fishermen with the canoe with paddle. The fish is stocked in boats with ice box called as geleiras. The managers of those boats buy the fish caught by the local fishermen. The boats wait some days to complete the ice box of fish and then transport the fish to be sold in the urban centers. The tamoatá caught in the Marajó Island between 1993 and 2004 and yielded in the Ver-O-Peso fish port was related with the total days spent by the geleiras in the Marajó by month and with the monthly rainfall measured in the meteorological station of the Soure city. The dry season is the most productive period, when the fish are concentrated in the remains water pools in the lake and river. The analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) indicates a significant relationship between the monthly tamoatá yield and days and rainfall factors. The relationship is positive to the days and negative to the rainfall. However, the relationship between the annual tamoatá yield and the rainfall is significant and positive. The lower amount of rainfall measured in the last years may explain the recent low caught of tamoatá in Marajó Island.