3.3. Fish landing sampling
Fish landings were sampled for two consecutive days per month in P. Grande and Tarituba and three days in Trindade, from November 2009 to January 2011. The fishers were approached as soon as they arrived from fishing and asked for their permission to weigh their catch, which was then identified using local names. Some fish were bought or were given for confirmation of the identifications. In Trindade, a local fisher performed the sampling, after being trained. A total of 273 fish landings were sampled in Trindade, 400 in P. Grande and 150 in Tarituba. Whenever the fish had been caught at multiple fishing spots, the total amount caught was divided by the number of sites visited on that trip, assuming that the fish were equally caught at all of the spots, because it was not possible to identify the exact origin of the fish. In Trindade, 3.7% of fishing occurred at more than one spot per day, while this figure was 23.3% for Tarituba and 9% for P. Grande.
The sampling of fish landings was conducted to crosscheck information provided by fishers on the main fishing spots and to
check where the main target species were coming from. Addi-tionally, this crosschecking was intended to show currently relevant spots, as fishers could have cited historically important spots that are not necessarily the most relevant now.