Bioeconomic assessment of the Mozambican shallow water shrimp fishery

Abstract

The Shallow Water Shrimp fishery is the most important fishing activity in the Mozambican fishing industry. The shrimp resources along the Mozambican coast are concentrated in the Maputo Bay, Limpopo River mouth and Sofala Bank. Sofala Bank is the most important fishing area with around 50.000 Km2. Three main fleets exploit the shrimp resources, namely, artisanal, semi-industrial and industrial. The semi-industrial and industrial fleets are the most important in terms of volume of catches that count for around 83% of the total shrimp catch per year. In this fishery the resource rent is not maximised and some operators face difficulties in making profits due to the high effort. Due to the intensive exploitation of the resource, management measures are being put in place to secure present and future sustainability of the resource. Bioeconomic models have been used to help on the management of the fishery. In this study the Beverton-Holt model which focuses its analysis on the year class-cohort has been used to assess the resource and find management reference points to improve the management regime. Reducing the current effort by half and opening the fishery in May to close in December the catches will be optimised and the profits can increase significantly. In order to improve the results from the model further investigations must be taken for instance precise the shrimp biological parameters such as growth, environmental effects and stock biomass-recruitment relationship.