TY - JOUR
T1 - Optimal management scenarios for the artisanal fisheries in the ecosystem of la Paz Bay, Baja California Sur, Mexico
AU - Arreguín-Sánchez, Francisco
AU - Hernández-Herrera, Agustín
AU - Ramírez-Rodríguez, Mauricio
AU - Pérez-España, Horacio
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank the National Council of Science and Technology, CONACyT, for support given through project 34865-B; the National Polytechnic Institute, through project CGPI-980056 and CGPI 20020287, COFAA and EDI; as well as to the INCO-DC Concerted Action ‘Placing Fisheries in their Ecosystem Context’ (ERBIC18CT97175).
PY - 2004/3/1
Y1 - 2004/3/1
N2 - In La Paz Bay, two artisanal fisheries operate, one based on hook-and-line, targeting snappers and groupers, and the other mainly based on gillnets, targeting species such as tilefish and haemulids. A shrimp fishery, which is not permitted to expand, also operates. We analyzed various harvesting strategies with the Ecopath with Ecosim modelling software, using catch-and-effort data for target species to fit simulated biomasses. Optimal harvesting strategies for artisanal fisheries were explored using social, economic and ecological criteria. Several harvesting strategies were simulated: continuation of the current state of the fisheries, optimizing economic and social (employment) criteria, using maximum sustainable yield (MSY) as a goal of management, and optimization of an ecological criterion when necessary. Optimization of current fisheries and economic and social criteria, and the MSY resulted in depletion of some stocks and in no-realistic increases in fishing effort. Combinations of economic-ecological, social-ecological and economic-social-ecological criteria did not result in stock depletion. However, some of these scenarios resulted in unrealistic choices, especially large increases in gillnet fishing effort. Among the reasonable choices, a strategy of increasing the hook-and-line fishery effort by a factor of 1.5 and the gillnet effort by a factor of 2.8, appeared to be potentially applicable, to increase efficiency of the artisanal fisheries.
AB - In La Paz Bay, two artisanal fisheries operate, one based on hook-and-line, targeting snappers and groupers, and the other mainly based on gillnets, targeting species such as tilefish and haemulids. A shrimp fishery, which is not permitted to expand, also operates. We analyzed various harvesting strategies with the Ecopath with Ecosim modelling software, using catch-and-effort data for target species to fit simulated biomasses. Optimal harvesting strategies for artisanal fisheries were explored using social, economic and ecological criteria. Several harvesting strategies were simulated: continuation of the current state of the fisheries, optimizing economic and social (employment) criteria, using maximum sustainable yield (MSY) as a goal of management, and optimization of an ecological criterion when necessary. Optimization of current fisheries and economic and social criteria, and the MSY resulted in depletion of some stocks and in no-realistic increases in fishing effort. Combinations of economic-ecological, social-ecological and economic-social-ecological criteria did not result in stock depletion. However, some of these scenarios resulted in unrealistic choices, especially large increases in gillnet fishing effort. Among the reasonable choices, a strategy of increasing the hook-and-line fishery effort by a factor of 1.5 and the gillnet effort by a factor of 2.8, appeared to be potentially applicable, to increase efficiency of the artisanal fisheries.
KW - Artisanal fisheries
KW - Ecopath with Ecosim
KW - Harvesting
KW - La Paz Bay
KW - Mexico
KW - Optimization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=17644436857&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2003.09.018
DO - 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2003.09.018
M3 - Artículo
SN - 0304-3800
VL - 172
SP - 373
EP - 382
JO - Ecological Modelling
JF - Ecological Modelling
IS - 2-4
ER -