Theory and practice of fisheries legislation: Adapting formal rules to local circumstances. A case study in the Northern Gulf of California, Mexico.

A. CINTI, C. MORENO, W. SHAW, R. CUDNEY-BUENO

Sarasota, Florida, USA.

Simposio; The Seventh William R. and Lenore Mote International Symposium in Fisheries Ecology.; 2008

Florida State University and Mote Marine Laboratory

The Northern Gulf of California (NGC) is a very productive marine ecosystem. Despite numerous conservation efforts, small-scale fisheries in the NGC have experienced a significant increase in fishing pressure over the last few decades, and a downtrend in production of many target species. Bahía Kino is a major provider of marine organisms harvested by divers in the NGC. However, it is also regarded as one of the most conflictive fishing villages. In order to provide insights on how government rules are functioning on the ground, and how these rules and their implementation could be improved; we investigated fishers’ knowledge of current government rules; and fishers’ attitudes concerning access to local fishing grounds, resource-use regulation, and enforcement of regulations. We also investigated the factors affecting fishing decisions to see if governmental rules stood among the prevailing factors. The study took place from April to August 2007, through semi-structured interviews and participant observation. Results suggest that information concerning current policies does not reach the fishers directly, and fisheries policies are shaped without fishers’ participation. Fishers tend to accept the movement of individual fishers among fishing villages, but they generally object to the movement of boats among fishing villages. Fishers strongly support the need for resource-use regulations for most of their target species, and the need for enforcement of regulations. Resource abundance and natural factors (wind, tides) were the most common factors affecting fishing decisions. This information could inform recent changes in fisheries legislation promoting decentralization and regionalization (development of regional management plans).