status of stations whose ecological status is already high and underestimate the ecological status of more highly disturbed stations (including natural disturbances see Dauvin and Ruellet, 2007). This difference in ecological group distributions may help explain why mollusk-only analyses tend to overestimate the ecological Weber and Zuschin, 2013) ' 1_b ' = Intertidal_Outer Flat (Weber and Zuschin, 2013) ' 1_c ' = Intertidal_Sandbar (Weber and Zuschin, 2013) ' 1_d ' = Intertidal_Channel (Weber and Zuschin, 2013) ' 1_e ' = Sublittoral_Shallow (Weber and Zuschin, 2013) ' 1_f ' = Sublittoral_Seagrass (Weber and Zuschin, 2013) ' 1_g ' = Sublittoral_Delta Sand (Weber and Zuschin, 2013) ' 1_total ' = all sites (Weber and Zuschin, 2013) ' 2_total ' = all sites (Leshno et al., 2015) ' 3_a ' = Intermediate (Giacobbe and Leonardi, 1985) ' 3_b ' = Deep (Giacobbe and Leonardi, 1985) ' 3_total ' = all sites (Giacobbe and Leonardi, 1985) ' 4_a ' = station 2 ( Peharda et al., 2002) ' 4_b = station 21 (Peharda et al., 2002) ' 4_c = station 22 (Peharda et al., 2002) ' 4_d = station 23 (Peharda et al., 2002) ' 4_total ' = all sites (Peharda et al., 2002) ' 5_total ' = all sites (Zenetos and Van Aartsen, 1995).

High variability in the ' molluskonly − whole-community ' difference can result if mollusks are rare in the community or the ecological groups represented are lower (i.e., more sensitive) than the ecological groups represented by other taxonomic groups in the community, which could include more disturbance-tolerant species, such as annelid worms (Figure S2.2 in Supplementary Material). The gear has a knife-edge selection pattern, which enables the use of the minimum spacing between the iron bars of the dredge's basket as an effective management tool. A single haul of the hand dredge can dislocate up to 76% of the individuals present in the sediment irrespective of their size, and retain up to 69% of the commercial-sized organisms. Additional samples were obtained inside the dredge (catch) and respective cover cod-end (discard) for selectivity analysis.

brasiliana were collected before and after dredging 15 experimental plots. This study was aimed at evaluating the efficiency and selectivity of the hand dredge currently in use at the RESEX, through a field experiment conducted in October 2006.

However, excessive fishing effort, institutional shortcomings and lack of a negotiated management plan have resulted in the overexploitation of the species since 2000. In 1992 one of the main fishing areas in the region was designated as the first Brazilian Marine Extractive Reserve (Pirajubaé RESEX), a federal form of governance intended to promote sustainable exploitation of natural resources by assigning exclusive fishing rights to traditional users. The introduction of a hand dredge ( gancho) since 1987 led to the development of a significant fishery supplying both local and regional shellfish markets. In Florianópolis, southern Brazil, the venerid clam Anomalocardia brasiliana has supported subsistence and small-scale commercial fisheries for decades.

Hand dredge