Abstract
The shrimp trawling fishery is the most important one in Mexico in value terms and given its putative environmental, societal and economical implications, it is also the most difficult to manage. Although this fishery was restricted from national bays and estuaries since the 1970’s, local fisheries cooperatives recently claimed access to shrimp stocks within La Paz Bay by using an artisanal fleet and a low impact trawling net. This study is aiming at simulating some ecosystem level effects of such a potential fishing effort release. We explored the response of three ecosystem indicators under two different exploitation scenarios: 30% and 80% of shrimp biomass removal. The indicators were: relative ecosystem biomass distribution as function of trophic level, trophic replacement and interaction strength, all computed from the outputs of a mass balance dynamic model (Ecopath with Ecosim) of this ecosystem. Our results suggest that moderate fishing scenario (30%) would not cause major changes in either indicator whilst the scenario of strong fishing pressure (80%) seems to increase not only the fish resources variability at the population level but also the variability of the overall biomass, hence potentially reducing ecosystem stability.
Highlights
In 2006, the economic income of the shrimp fishery in the Gulf of California was in excess of $411 million, ranking the first place as for the total value of marine resources
The indicators were: relative ecosystem biomass distribution as function of trophic level, trophic replacement and interaction strength, all computed from the outputs of a mass balance dynamic model (Ecopath with Ecosim) of this ecosystem
Our results suggest that moderate fishing scenario (30%) would not cause major changes in either indicator whilst the scenario of strong fishing pressure (80%) seems to increase the fish resources variability at the population level and the variability of the overall biomass, potentially reducing ecosystem stability
Summary
In 2006, the economic income of the shrimp fishery in the Gulf of California was in excess of $411 million, ranking the first place as for the total value of marine resources. The shrimp fishery is the most lucrative one in Mexico, it is the most difficult to manage The fact that this activity has been a cornerstone for the regional development during the last 50 years, counteracts with the environmental effects attributable to the fleet operation (habitat loss, fishing mortality of non-target animal and plant species), the recent decreasing trend of the catch per unit of effort, overcapitalization of the industry, federal subsidies and the concomitant societal and economic impacts. In light of this situation the academic, governmental and social sectors are deeply concerned over the long term ecological sustainability of the Mexi-
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