Status of the American oyster Crassostrea virginica (Mollusca: Ostreidae) resource in Cauto river, Cuba

Abstract

The phenotypic identification of Crassostrea virginica, Gmelin (1791), as a natural resource in the Cauto River, Cuba, occurs in 2016. The species is part of the commercial catch in the southeastern region of Cuba since 2007. Fishing is free, without reproductive prohibition regulations and the same legal minimum catch size (40 mm) of mangrove oyster Crassostrea rhizophorae, Guilding (1828) is applied. The production of both species is not differentiated in the fisheries statistics of Cuba. This makes it difficult to evaluate and manage the entire oyster resource, so it was a first stock assessment and fishery production of C. virginica in the Cauto River. The annual total catch data 2010-2015 were obtained from fishing companies and population sampling and exploration was carried out, determining the total area of banks, the abundance of oysters in number and weight, and the mean population size. The population mean size decreased from 68.30 ± 18.22 mm in 2011 to 42.6 ± 11.70 mm in 2014, and abundance was significantly reduced in 2013 and 2014 compared to 2011 and 2012, with signs of exhaustion in the population, which needed a catching total banning. As a result of this administrative strategy, a population indicated a slight increase in abundance and size but did not reach levels of abundance for a maximum sustainable catch. Regulatory measures for the management of the C. virginica fishery in Cuba are proposed.