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Ghost fishing and its impact on marine ecosystems of San Mateo, Jaramijó and Crucita, year 2019
Original title: Pesca fantasma y su impacto en los ecosistemas marinos de San Mateo, Jaramijó y Crucita, año 2019
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This Spanish-language study examined the impact of ghost fishing — the continued capture of marine life by lost or abandoned fishing gear — in three fishing communities in Ecuador. While focused on fishing gear loss rather than microplastics, abandoned synthetic fishing gear is a source of plastic debris that degrades into microplastics over time.
The research Ghost fishing and its impact on the marine ecosystems of San Mateo, Jaramijo and had the general objective of evaluating the impact of ghost fishing on the marine ecosystems of San Mateo, Jaramijo, and Crucita. 150 surveys were applied to artisanal fishermen in the fishing coves to identify the fishing gear and their characteristics. Two databases were consulted: (1) active vessels and fishing gear; (2) number of longline hooks and hooks lost. In order to estimate the similarity between fishing gear and vessels of the three study sites, linear association techniques (Linear Regression), multivariate proximity analysis (NMDS) and multivariate tests such as ANOSIM and PERMANOVA were applied. The most used fishing gear is the longline (58%), followed by the bottom gillnet (9%). Regarding the characteristics of the manufacturing materials of artisanal fishing boats, the study found that the artisanal fishing fleet of Crucita, Jaramijo and San Mateo is mainly composed of fiberglass boats (94%), wood (2%) with the following average dimensions: average length of 8.24 m; beam 1.94 m; depth 0.98 m. Loss of fishing gear, fishermen can lose up to a maximum of 2 cloths of net and between 0 to 11 hooks per fishing operation respectively. Gillnets can have a mortality of 5,305,560 individuals after 12 months; while it is estimated that the trammel could reach a total of 99,324 individuals by the third month. Keywords: Mortality rate, microplastic, abandoned fishing gear, lost fishing gear, fishing gear characteristics.
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