Coastal fishermen and coastal environment transformation in the Pacific Central American Coastal Large Marine Ecosystem

Abstract

Artisanal or coastal fishermen living in Manzanillo, Colima, a port-city facing the Pacific Central American Coastal Large Marine Ecosystem, fish the open sea and in the two bays that extend off the city and into the interior coastal lagoons. Over the past two decades, these fishermen - whose number is rather constant than variable in this period - have been observing significant changes in the riverine coastal environment, especially in lagoons, that, in their opinion, substantially affect both the amount of their catches and its quality and variety. This paper describes these changes and their causes from the perspective of fishermen, considering those “causes” in relation to the scientists' explanation of them and alternative explanations. It also shows that the analytical thinking of fishermen should not be disparaged by scientists, but could become an aid because they provide descriptive approaches open to be corroborated in situ by scientists who are specialists in the study of various weather and oceanographic and biological phenomena.