Conciliating artisanal and recreational fisheries in Anegada Bay,Argentina

LLOMPART, F.; COLAUTTI, D. C.; BAIGÚN, C. R. M.

FISHERIES RESEARCH

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2017 p. 140 - 149

0165-7836

tRecreational and artisanal fisheries are common activities in Latin America often interpreted as com-petitors due to the use of common-pool resources in coastal areas. Conflicts between the (historical)artisanal fisheries (AF) and recreational fisheries (RF) in Anegada Bay resulted in the prohibition of theformer. This study addresses key fisheries characteristics to detect the degree of spatio-temporal overlapbetween them considering the annual dynamic of the coastal fish assemblage and proposed manage-ment alternatives. Both fisheries exerted different fishing effort coinciding with the dynamic of the fishassemblages but partial temporal and spatial overlap where apparent especially during one month. How-ever, both fisheries focused their catches on different target species thus greatly reducing the overlapin resource use. Moreover, the low proportion of juveniles caught, limited fishing effort using selectivebottom gillnets and scarce total harvest (168 tonnes/years) for AF compared with those of RF harvest (631tonnes/years) in Anegada Bay poorly justifies the actual prohibition. However, the vulnerability index ofAF landings resulted in higher values than the RF. To resolve conflicts, a co-management including AF, RFand industrial (trawl) stakeholders and non-fishing community is suggested. Because of the economicimportance of fishing for local people, an efficient inter and intra-sector communications process andnew fisheries guidelines are urgent for the equitable use of fisheries resources without compromisingthe goals of a protected area.