“Capacity building for the sustainable development of mullet (Mugil platanus) artisanal fishery in Samborombón Bay and low flow rivers in the nearby estuarine waters.

ING. ERNESTO GODELMAN; DR. MARIANO GONZÁLEZ CASTRO; DRA. MARÍA BERTA COUSSEAU; LIC. A. CORNEJO

2006-12-01

2008-06-01

Biológica

Rec.Nat.Renov.-Explotacion

Proposal   a. Applicant Background.   The Center for the Development of Sustainable Fisheries (CeDePesca) is an NGO dedicated to working toward social, economic and ecologically sustainable fisheries. CeDePesca was found in 1997 and has one office in Mar del Plata, Argentina with eight employees, four volunteers and one representative in Buenos Aires and one in Lima, Peru. The primary objectives of CeDePesca are to research and promote management systems that assure the sustainable use of fisheries resources, support the organizational development of small scale fishing communities, assist in designing legal and economic frameworks that assure growing participation in management of marine resources, and provide protection and support for the fishing sector. Together with fishing sector representatives CeDePesca assists in strengthening the fishing sector economically and socially by developing resource management plans and training members in the fishing community.     b. Proposal Background.   The project general strategy aims at strengthening an incipient artisanal fishery, the mullet (Mugil platanus) one, as a way of diverting fishing effort from another fishery, the white croaker (Micropogonias furnieri) one, which shows extremely disturbing indicators. Both fisheries develop in the same socioeconomically and environmentally critical area: Samborombón Bay, situated in Buenos Aires province. This Bay is a Ramsar site that shelters several natural reserve levels. The estuarine environment characterizing it provides ideal conditions for the reproduction and feeding of a great number of species, and it is regarded as an important spawning and nursery area, besides fulfilling other functions of high ecological value. The MSC ecolabel is seen as a potential effective tool to ensure and extend responsible practices in this sensitive area, and others similar.   Between 1992 and 1997, there was a substantial increase in the croaker catch by 200 boats that focused on that area, where the species tends to concentrate during the winter season. This variation was due to the opening of the Asian market for the species. In 1998, this fishery underwent a collapse to a third of the three-preceding-year average landings. The fleet decreased to 70 boats.   As from 2003, with rather better CPUEs and a steady demand, both the number of vessels of every type and the landing amount started to increase. However, this improvement is only apparent, since between 1997 and 2004 the average length of the sampled landings fell from 39.62 cm to 31.70 cm (20 %), and the number of sexually immature landed specimens increased from 19.8 % to 55.4 % (180 %).   For some time, on an annual basis but with peaks during autumn and winter (pre-spawning), a mullet artisanal fishery has also developed by pulses. Although official catch reports have not exceeded 200 annual tons in any year, several talks with artisanal fishermen of the Bay have made it possible to conservatively estimate that some years, real landings have exceeded between 3 and 6 times that figure.   Building on several studies presently carried out in the Ichthyology Laboratory at Universidad de Mar del Plata and conducted by Dr. Berta Cousseau, it is known that mullet does not spawn until reaching at least 40 cm total length, that is to say over 50% of its maximum size.   Mullet swim in schools and often make leaps of the water. This habit makes mullet a resource particularly accessible to artisanal fishermen and around 50 of them have been engaged in their catch quite regularly until recently. This is a considerable number compared with the number of fishermen operating in the croaker fishery.   The two methods used to fish for mullet are “net-shooting” and gillnet-setting. When using the “net-shooting” method, fishermen detect the school leaping and encircle it by fixing a large net of some 500 m length with a mesh size of 90/100 mm in a semicircle starting and ending on the shore. Fishermen go into the sea from the shore and “drive” the school towards the net. This passive method is an environmentally friendly way of catching fish. The “net-shooting” technique is the main method used in this fishery.   At present, for those fishermen having a certain cold storage capacity during the fishing season, the mullet fishery may complement economically their activities since during the tourist summer season, when there is less abundance; many tourists seek to consume several mullet meals, which are the local specialties, in local restaurants. However, this possibility is not within the reach of most fishermen, who belong to a low-income social class.   Mullet is a resource available throughout the year, but there is no strong incentive for its catch since white croaker (Micropogonias furnieri) fishing offers a higher reward. In 2005, for instance, most of the mullet was sold at a price ranging between US$ 0.27 and US$ 0.30 per kilogram to local exporters cold-storage plants, who send the product mainly to Latin American countries. In contrast, white croaker was sold between US$ 0.55 and US$ 0.60 per kg. For reference, in foreign wholesale markets in May 2006, the price of fresh mullet was US$ 1.64 in Brazil, US$ 1.40 in Mexico, US$ 2.50 in Hong Kong and US$ 2.90 in Italy. This shows that, by means of adequate marketing and strengthening of artisanal fishermen’s capacities, there is room for having access to better trading possibilities for mullet, encouraging its catch instead of that of croaker. And the MSC ecolabel could be one entering door to those better markets.   One important concern is the lack of biomass estimates as to know for certain the fishing volumes about which we can talk and there is also a lack of precise information about migrations, spawning areas and other aspects that are currently just inferred from some local studies and knowledge gained in other regions. Likewise, there is no adequate census database of the artisanal fishermen operating in the Bay regarding both this fishery technical data and related socioeconomic information.    Methods. The biological evaluation consist in evaluate the age and growth of mugil platanus (using otholith readings) as well as the reproductive biology (using an histological approach), i.e. gonadosomtic index, fecundity, oocyte diamter structure.