Financial indicators (investment and operational costs, income and profits and net current value, cost-benefit) were used between 1994 and 2003, in order to evaluate the economic profitability of the most representative fishing economic units (FEU) from the coastal and stilt villages in the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta and Pajarales complex (CGSM-CP). It has been stated that most of the FEUs are not financially profitable for these fishers, since they generate very low incomes, which in most cases are not enough to match the current minimum legal salary. In spite of that, fishermen from the coastal villages showed higher economic profitability than those from stilt villages. It has also been observed that the fishermen economic yields suffer variations in a very short term, which is attributed to natural and anthropogenic changes of the CGSM that are affecting the structure and composition of fish population. This is driving the fishery towards being nonviable in the long term, with the implications it has on fishermen behavior: i) higher pressure on fish resources, ii) increase of economic debt, and iii) incapability saving money. In this context, it is recommended to develop the bases for fishery management in the CGSM, without overlooking the social and cultural characteristics of human population, as well as its active participation in the fishery management.
In the period between “before” (1994-1996) and “after” (1999-2004) the hydraulic works the behavior of the economic yield of the artisanal fishery in Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta and Complejo de Pajarales through the commonly used in the study area Fishing Economic Units (FEU), such as atarraya, trasmallo and boliche, was evaluated. Significant differences of the economic yield by type of FEU were observed spatially and temporarily, being atarraya and boliche the FEU that presented differences between stations and years, while trasmallo presented only temporal differences. The above is a product of the biophysical changes that suffered the lagoon system due to the different human interventions. It not only caused income changes, but also a major pressure on the lagoon system induced by the fishermen, willing to improve their socioeconomic wellbeing.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.