Fishers in the Baja California Sur are pioneering community-driven strategies to safeguard the long-term health of their fisheries. They are working alongside the Mexican conservation nonprofit Niparajá and the Mexican government. And these marine refuges, or zonas de refugio, are inspiring similar efforts across Mexico.
The Baja fishers were deeply worried about overfishing, Amy Hudson Weaver, the former sustainable fisheries coordinator for Niparajá, tells Food Tank. In “Every time we hear about a fishery, it’s like it’s collapsing,” says Hudson Weaver. “[They] wanted to be actively involved in not having that be the story that’s told about our region.”
The fishers decided to establish no-fishing zones to allow fish stocks to replenish while maintaining their ability to fish in other areas. But in order to give these marine refuges legal protection, the fishers needed to be legally recognized. They needed permits.
When Niparajá and the fishers began working with the National Aquaculture and Fishing Commission in Mexico (CONAPESCA), they encountered what Hudson Weaver calls “the invisible part of fishing.” The regulatory agency didn’t have any record of the fishers existing at all.
Because of their dispersed and remote nature, small-scale fisheries (SSFs) are among the most unregulated fisheries globally, according to Xavier Basurto, a Professor at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and Nicholas Gutierrez, a Senior Fisheries Manager at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. “More than 60 percent of the global catch SSFs do not have the right to participate in decision-making processes about these fisheries,” they tell Food Tank.
The researchers say, “For most of society, science, and global development funding, small-scale fisheries are invisible and as a consequence [so is] their role in eradicating poverty, hunger and malnutrition.”
SSFs account for at least 40 percent of the global catch from wild fisheries and employ 90 percent of people in fisheries globally, according to a recent Nature article authored by Basurto and Gutierrez. They also provide approximately 2.3 billion people with access to crucial micronutrients.
But their invisibility makes SSFs vulnerable to displacement by other competing economic activities like large-scale fisheries, aquaculture, and tourism. The first step, the researchers say, is making the contributions of SSFs visible. “What gets measured is more likely to be managed.”
Upon obtaining legal recognition, the Gulf fishers proposed twelve marine refuge zones. CONAPESCA approved and legally established the zones, and the fishers planned to review them for renewal every five years.
“The biggest testimony to the success of the zonas del refugio is that the fishers have continued renewing them,” says Hudson Weaver. “If the zonas del refugio did not work, they would not continue to renew them for 15 years.”
A key indicator of the refuges’ success is that they helped fish stocks recover. “We’ve seen bigger fish and more fish,” Hudson Weaver says, pointing to positive trends in several of the zones. The restrictions have not reduced the fishers’ catch or impacted their ability to earn a living.
The model is what Basurto and Gutierrez call “community-based management,” where fishers and government authorities share management responsibilities. While the fishers design and largely manage the marine refuges, the governmental regulatory agency gives the zones legal standing, performs biological assessments, and, in theory, handles enforcement.
“The enforcement part is the Achilles heel of all of these projects around Mexico,” says Hudson Weaver. But she adds that other organizations, like fishing federations, help fill in the gaps. “The federation…tries to organize and funnel funds to the fishing cooperatives and allows them to do some enforcement in the region.”
Basurto, Gutierrez, and Hudson Weaver emphasize the importance of this collaborative, community-driven approach to fisheries management. “There are people that believe that the rules should be made and imposed on fishers, and if that is the recipe… it probably will not work,” Hudson Weaver says. “Fishermen and women need to be part of the solution in fisheries management.”
“The best role for the government is to act as enabler or supporter, not as a protagonist,” says Basurto. He adds that top-down interventions may favor more visible economic sectors like industrial fishing, aquaculture, tourism, agriculture, irrigation, and hydropower development over SSF livelihoods.
But community-based management is not easy. Gutierrez tells Food Tank that there are certain conditions that enable successful co-management. These include strong leadership, robust social capital, clear incentives, and conservation benefits derived from establishing protected areas.
For the Gulf fishers, these conditions existed. “Now it’s a huge movement in Mexico to make zonas de refugio,” says Hudson Weaver. “Every fisherman wants one.”
Photo courtesy of Comisión Mexicana de Filmaciones, Wikimedia Commons
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