A pesca com a arte de xávega.

The preliminary results of a study on the beach seine fishery is given, including a brief analysis of the reported landings and their respective landing values. Landing statisticas are reported for the 8 most important species or group of species in the northern, central and southern regions. The artisanal fleet and beach seine gear characteristics are also given.\ud Length frequency distributions are reported for the catches of horse mackerel, sardine, squid and Spanish mackerel as well as the composition of catches at Costa de Caparica. Furthermore, we present the species lists of the 1976 and 1996 surveys that were carried out in Costa de Caparica and Fonte da Telha

Avaliação da predação de rato-preto Rattus rattus nas crias de cagarra Calonectris diomedea borealis na Ilha da Berlenga

Berlengas Archipelago is the most important area in mainland Portugal for breeding seabirds. The archipelago hosts the only known breeding population of the vulnerable Cory’s Shearwater Calonectris diomedea borealis in mainland Portuguese coastal waters. Although this population has already been the subject of many studies, little is known about its interaction with black rat Rattus rattus. Black rat and rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus are the only introduced mammals on the island, and the first is listed as one of the main predators of Cory’s Shearwater chicks. This study aimed to 1) evaluate the activity of black rat in two Cory’s Shearwater colonies and 2) report events of predation on chicks. For this, 54 and 20 nests were monitored daily in the colonies of Melreu and Furado Seco, respectively, between July 24 and August 6. Meanwhile, 16 photographic traps were installed within or at the entrance of 29 different nests in order to monitor rats’ activity. Despite not having obtained any record from direct predation of black rat, 2 chicks disappeared from the nest (with no photo trap) with a strong likelihood of being predated. Although in Melreu have been noticed a strong decrease in activity of black rat during development of chicks and Furado Seco not, the data presented here suggest a greater and more prolonged activity of rat at the second, which may indicate it’s under greater predatory pressure. Finnally it was found some evidences on possible impact by yellow-legged-gull on Cory’s shearwater chicks

Weight-length relationships for selected fish species of the small-scale demersal fisheries of the south and south-west coast of Portugal

Weight-length relationships were estimated for 31 fish species from the south and south-west coasts of Portugal. These species, which are mainly sea breams (Sparidae), dominate the catches of the main fixed gears used in this region and account for more than 50% and 40% of the total fish landings by weight and by value