Innovating bivalve fisheries management in Mexico

FRANCISCO J. FERNANDEZ-RIVERA MELO; MARIA JOSE ESPINOSA-ROMERO; MARIO ROJO; GASPAR SORIA; JORGE TORRE-COSIO

Simposio; 9th Florida State University Mote Symposium; 2015

Bivalve fisheries have been developed in the Gulf of California since mid-last century. Interest on these resources has been increasing in recent decades because these products are considered a delicacy for the seafood cuisine. Overfishing since the 70´s has resulted in a drastic decrease in catch volumes, hindering the natural recovery of these species, sometimes causing the extinction of local banks of such species. Overexploitation has been mainly caused by a lack of governmental attention to this fishery, the open access, and the over-capitalization of the fishing fleet. This work demonstrates through a case study analysis that small-scale fishers can self-organize to design and implement novel schemes of integrated and spatial management of these species. These schemes involve the implementation of fishing refugia and individual quotas and the use of three existing management instruments: permits for mariculture, permits for research, permits for commercial fishing. The case studies under the mariculture permits involve seeding and fatten up of penshell species. These results present key elements to advance management of bivalve species in Mexico.