Behavior of the Galapagos fishing fleet and its consequences for the design of spatial management alternatives for the red spiny lobster fishery

Bucaram, Santiago; White, J. Wilson; Sanchirico, James N.; Wilen, James E.

doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2013.03.001

Cited by 26 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Overexploitation of numerous fisheries stocks is occurring worldwide [1],while the Galapagos Archipelago is often thought as a veritable Eden teeming with charismatic fauna, it has been far from spared by overfishing, as exemplified by the sea cucumber and lobster fisheries [2–4]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish: Overexploitation of the Regionally Endemic Galapagos Grouper Mycteroperca olfax (Jenyns, 1840)

et al. 2016

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The regionally endemic Galapagos Grouper, locally known as bacalao, is one of the most highly prized finfish species within the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR). Concerns of overfishing, coupled with a lack of fishing regulations aimed at this species raises concerns about the current population health. We assessed changes in population health over a 30-year period using three simple indicators: (1) percentage of fish below reproductive size (Lm); (2) percentage of fish within the optimum length interval (Lopt); and (3) percentage of mega-spawners in the catch. Over the assessed period, none of the indicators reached values associated with healthy populations, with all indicators declining over time. Furthermore, the most recent landings data show that the vast majority of the bacalao caught (95.7%,) were below Lm, the number of fish within the Lopt interval was extremely low (4.7%), and there were virtually no mega-spawners (0.2%). Bacalao fully recruit to the fishery 15 cm below the size at which 50% of the population matures. The Spawning Potential Ratio is currently 5% of potential unfished fecundity, strongly suggesting severe overfishing. Our results suggest the need for bacalao-specific management regulations that should include minimum (65 cm TL) and maximum (78 cm TL) landing sizes, slot limits (64–78 cm TL), as well as a closed season during spawning from October to January. It is recognized that these regulations are harsh and will certainly have negative impacts on the livelihoods of fishers in the short term, however, continued inaction will likely result in a collapse of this economically and culturally valuable species. Alternative sources of income should be developed in parallel with the establishment of fishing regulations to limit the socio-economic disruption to the fishing community during the transition to a more sustainable management regime.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish: Overexploitation of the Regionally Endemic Galapagos Grouper Mycteroperca olfax (Jenyns, 1840)

et al. 2016

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“…Fishing costs were introduced through proxies including fuel price and/or costs, time spent at sea or distance from harbour (Berman ; Bucaram et al . ). Fishers’ attitude towards risk has also been considered as driving their decisions.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…; Bucaram et al . ) and the mixed logit model (Eggert and Tveteras ; Pradhan and Leung ; Tidd et al . ; Marchal et al .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thirty years of fleet dynamics modelling using discrete‐choice models: What have we learned?

et al. 2016

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Anticipating fisher behaviour is necessary for successful fisheries management. Of the different concepts that have been developed to understand individual fisher behaviour, random utility models (RUMs) have attracted considerable attention in the past three decades, and more particularly so since the 2000s. This study aimed at summarizing and analysing the information gathered from RUMs used during the last three decades around the globe. A methodology has been developed to standardize information across different studies and compare RUM results. The studies selected focused on fishing effort allocation. Six types of fisher behaviour drivers were considered: the presence of other vessels in the same fishing area, tradition, expected revenue, species targeting, costs, and risk‐taking. Analyses were performed using three separate linear modelling approaches to assess the extent to which these different drivers impacted fisher behaviour in three fleet types: fleets fishing for demersal species using active gears, fleets fishing for demersal species using passive gears and fleets fishing for pelagic species. Fishers are attracted by higher expected revenue, tradition, species targeting and presence of others, but avoid choices involving large costs. Results also suggest that fishers fishing for demersal species using active gears are generally more influenced by past seasonal (long‐term) patterns than by the most recent (short‐term) information. Finally, the comparison of expected revenue with other fisher behaviour drivers highlights that demersal fishing vessels are risk‐averse and that tradition and species targeting influence fisher decisions more than expected revenue.

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“…Moreover, in contrast with the large scholarly attention given to the ecological and biological aspects of Galápagos, literature addressing socio-ecological and policy issues in this archipelago is relatively scarce. There is a small number of studies that focus on very specific issues, such as the governance/management of the Galápagos Marine Reserve [53][54][55], environmental conservation [53,56,57], waste management [57,58], water supply [59,60], tourism [61,62], fishing [63], and socio-ecological interactions [64][65][66][67]. Furthermore, these present a well-defined provincial scope.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards Comprehensive Policy Integration for the Sustainability of Small Islands: A Landscape-Scale Planning Approach for the Galápagos Islands

2018

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Accomplishing and implementing sustainable development goals in the context of insular socio-ecological systems requires effective policy integration-i.e., the integration of policy actors across multiple sectors and levels of government to improve policy outcomes. However, achieving policy integration entails significant challenges because it is highly context-dependent. This study investigates policy integration within the complex socio-ecological context of the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador. The paper analyses Galápagos legal and planning documents to evaluate the extent to which they support comprehensive policy integration. The analysis found that recently adopted institutional arrangements have strengthened government institutions at the provincial level, and started to consider concepts relating to socio-ecological and land-sea management. Nevertheless, key policy actors and pressing issues remain unattended, due to policy inconsistencies, institutional arrangements limitations, and fragmented approaches to conservation and development control between provincial and local governments. Insights are presented to improve the comprehensiveness of policy integration in Galápagos based on a landscape-scale planning approach.

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Behavior of the Galapagos fishing fleet and its consequences for the design of spatial management alternatives for the red spiny lobster fishery

Cited by 26 publications

References 21 publications

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish: Overexploitation of the Regionally Endemic Galapagos Grouper Mycteroperca olfax (Jenyns, 1840)

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish: Overexploitation of the Regionally Endemic Galapagos Grouper Mycteroperca olfax (Jenyns, 1840)

Thirty years of fleet dynamics modelling using discrete‐choice models: What have we learned?

Towards Comprehensive Policy Integration for the Sustainability of Small Islands: A Landscape-Scale Planning Approach for the Galápagos Islands

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