The development of small scale fishery and community tourism in a protected natural area: a qualitative review of socio-ecollogical system from Isla Arena, Campeche 2003-2021

Abstract

The present research work focuses on the community of Isla Arena (ia), it is considered as a community of high isolation that is part of a natural protected area, this site presents great fishing and tourism activities, which represents a place of great importance for research studies. the objective of this research was to describe the environmental and social contribution of scientific research in ia, through the review of the literature on fisheries management, tourism, and conservation from 2003 to 2021. In this period, articles, and book chapters (n=51) and theses (n=9) were published for this region. 70.6% of specialized literature publications (articles and book chapters) were between 2014 and 2021, most of this literature concentrates on social and environmental issues (44.7%), and only on environmental issues (42.1%). We identified 25 institutions that through the authors collaborated in the study of the coastal socio-ecological system, most of them are higher education institutions (ies) (n = 9) and public research centers (ci) (n = 7) in Mexico. On the other hand, that the participation of the research works of Thesis 66.7% are theses of master’s level, 22.2% of doctoral level, all the theses cover topics of the environmental and social dimension. Like the specialized literature, most were conducted in national public ies and ia (n=8). Most of the findings on the timeline are about riparian fishing (59%) and community tourism (27%). The researchers have emphasized issues such as: illegal fishing, sea cucumber and octopus fisheries, as well as the tourism and conservation activity carried out by the cooperatives of the community. Keywords: socio-environmental systems, coastal communities, protected natural area.