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Last Trip Return Rate Influence Patch Choice Decisions of Small-Scale Shrimp Trawlers: Optimal Foraging in São Francisco, Coastal Brazil

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Abstract

Studies using Optimal Foraging Theory to understand human behavior have stated that daily variation in patch profitability could explain mismatches between theoretical predictions and actual behavior. In this paper, we tested whether the return rate of the last fishing trip could predict fishers’ choices to return or choose a different fishing ground for their next trip. We collected data on fishing trips using interviews and direct observation of fishers’ activities at the main landing point in São Francisco, a small-scale shrimp fishing community on Brazil’s southern coast. We found that fishers returned more often to fishing grounds where the return rate of the previous fishing trip was above the average gross return of the environment. Daily variations in patch quality accounted for fishers’ decisions, but other factors may also influence the observed behavior, such as scale of analysis, information exchange, environmental conditions, and economic variables.

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Notes

  1. Cooperpescass—Fisheries Cooperative São Sebastião (23°45′22″ S–45°24′40″W)—a fish and shrimp processing plant where fishers sell their catches and buy diesel and ice to store their captures. In this work, Cooperpescass is the fishing landing point (central place).

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Acknowledgments

We would especially like to thank the fishers from São Francisco for their friendship and patience during this work. Additionally, we thank Dr. Priscila F. M. Lopes for her valuable support and inspiration for doing this work; Dr. Miguel Petrere Jr. for his bibliographic contribution to the discussion about refuges; Dr. Renato Silvano for his valuable comments and suggestions on different versions of this paper; CNPq for financial support; Ryan Pengelly for grammar corrections; and the anonymous referees who helped immensely to make this paper better.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

    Luiz Eduardo Chimello de Oliveira

  2. FIFO & UNISANTA, Rua Oswaldo Cruz 277, Santos, SP, CEP: 11045-907, Brazil

    Luiz Eduardo Chimello de Oliveira & Alpina Begossi

  3. CAPESCA/PREAC (LEPAC) & CMU UNICAMP, CP 6023, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Luiz Eduardo Chimello de Oliveira & Alpina Begossi

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  1. Luiz Eduardo Chimello de Oliveira
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Correspondence to Luiz Eduardo Chimello de Oliveira.

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de Oliveira, L.E.C., Begossi, A. Last Trip Return Rate Influence Patch Choice Decisions of Small-Scale Shrimp Trawlers: Optimal Foraging in São Francisco, Coastal Brazil. Hum Ecol 39, 323–332 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-011-9397-8

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