My doctoral studies concentrate on the population ecology and dynamics of salmonids in the context of management and conservation. This line of research offers vast opportunities to identify and generate actions and techniques for developing biologically-sound fisheries and a more effective management of aquatic communities that are directly or indirectly affected by growing human activities. To this end I am building and implementing size-dependent, individual-based demographic models for the analysis of alternative management strategies in recreational fisheries.

Based on perceptions by fishermen, I am evaluating the effects of different fishing modalities and efforts on fish size and age, on fishing quality and fishermen satisfaction. The main hypothesis of my research is that the over-fishing occurs at much lower rates than those required for extraction of maximal sustainable biomass. Recreational fisheries would then be moresusceptible to “collapses”, because a small increase in fishing effort could produce a high reduction on the probability of catching trophy size fish.

This project is largely benefited from fishermen’s knowledge and participation, providing vital feedback for designing fish sampling and monitoring protocols, as well as for developing management recommendations in response to their expectations.

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