Understanding Artisanal Fishers’ Behaviors: The Case of Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta, Colombia

Luz Torres-Guevara,Maria Lopez,Achim Schlüter

doi:10.3390/su8060549

Abstract

We investigate the ecological impact caused by fishing grounds and the fishing gear/methods used by fishers in Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta (CGSM), an estuarine lagoon located on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. To do so, we build individual and composite ecological sustainable indicators based on the opinions of a group of experienced fishers and a group of scientists. Additionally, we use those indicators to examine the influence of socioeconomic and perceptional factors on fishers’ fishing behaviors and how those behaviors may be affecting CGSM fishery resources. Our results suggest that fishers and scientists differ in their opinions about the impact of fishing on CGSM. Additionally, we found that having a higher level of education, sharing household expenses with other family members and spending more hours fishing lead to ecologically-sustainable fishing behavior, while the perception that the government is responsible for CGSM conservation leads to ecologically unsustainable fishing behavior.

Highlights

Artisanal fisheries are relevant for poverty alleviation and food security, mostly in developing countries [1,2]
We investigated the influence of socioeconomic and perceptional factors on fishers’ fishing decisions and how these decisions affect the fishery resources by looking at two different points of view: the indicators built with the assessment by the group of experienced Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta (CGSM) fishers and the indicators based on the scientists’ assessment
The variable government should help conserve CGSM is significant at the 1% or 5% level in all models. These results suggest that regardless of the aspect evaluated or the evaluator, fishers who believe that the conservation of CGSM is the responsibility of the government or of other users (45% of fishers surveyed) are exerting a significantly negative impact on the lagoon

Summary

Introduction

Artisanal fisheries are relevant for poverty alleviation and food security, mostly in developing countries [1,2]. Despite their ecological, economic and social importance, such fisheries are being threatened by several external factors, such as pollution and increasing demands, as well as by internal factors, such as the use of destructive fishing gear and practices [3,4]. A sustainable fishery requires taking into account conservation and environmental aspects, along with the social, economic and institutional dimensions of the fishery activity [5]. Any management approach should include the fundamental components of sustainability: ecology, society, economics and institutions [6,7,8]. It is critically important to understand fishers’ behaviors and how those behaviors are influenced and may influence all components of sustainability [9,10,11,12,13]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion