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Age, growth, and maturity of the bluewing searobin Prionotus punctatus were studied to assess its stock status in southern Brazil. Total length compositions, weight, sex, and maturity stage were recorded from commercial landings, and ages were estimated from transverse sections of the sagittal otolith. The oldest observed specimen was a 12‐year‐old female. Females grew to a larger asymptotic length (L∞ = 384.4 mm) than males (L∞ = 311.7 mm) but at a slower instantaneous rate (kfemales = 0.41 year−1, kmales = 0.75 year−1). Reproduction occurred from spring to early fall. Females size‐ and age‐at‐maturity was estimated at 246.8 mm and 1.66 years, while males were at 237.2 mm and 1.38 years. Based on a statistical catch‐at‐age stock assessment, the spawning biomass declined 84% from 1976 to 2000 being classified as overfished and suffering from overfishing (B/Bmsy = 0.62; F/Fmsy >1). P. punctatus was regularly discarded by industrial fisheries before 2000 but suffered from high exploitation in the last decades. These results highlight the need for the species to be included in Brazil's fishery management plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial trawling on the Atlantic slope areas off Brazil intensified in the late 1990's owing to the expansion of coastal trawling areas and the operations of a chartered foreign fleet. Between 2000 and 2003, 59 fishing trips conducted by 10 chartered trawlers were intensely monitored by observers and satellite vessel monitoring systems, totaling 9,069 tows and 30,085.2 trawling hours. Fishing operations occurred in northern, northeastern, southeastern, and southern sectors of the Brazilian coast in 60-1,173 in depths. Total retained and processed catch were 8,074.6 t and 6,479.8 t, respectively. Argentine hake, Merluccius hubbsi; and Argentine shorifin squid, Illex argentinus, were the primary species taken contributing to 41.1% and 28.6% of the overall catch, respectively. The silver John dory, Zenopsis conchifera; monkfish, Lophius gastrophysus; Brazilian codling, Urophycis mystacea; and the black grouper Epinephelus nigritus, composed 23% of total processed catch, and the remaining 7.2% was composed of deep-sea shrimps (family Aristeidae) and other teleosts and elasmobranches. The occupation of slope areas included an early exploratory phase, followed by directed phases of the upper slope (300-500 m), aiming principally at the Argentine hake, and the lower slope (>700 m), targeting valuable concentrations of deep-sea aristeid shrimps. The role of chartering for slope trawling development was critically addressed. We conclude that chartered vessels were efficient explorers and were particularly important in areas not available to the technologically limited national fleet. Because the charters were market-oriented and had elevated profit demands, however those vessels quickly turned from exploration to exploitation and competed with national trawlers in shallower areas and produced significant impacts on Brazil's modest deep-sea resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]