Heterogeneity among clam harvesters in northwest Mexico shapes individual adaptive capacity

Abstract

Temporal variability driven by environmental shifts, biological processes, and socioeconomic fluctuations is inherent in natural resource-based sectors, including fisheries. In navigating these changes as opportunities for transformation, individual decisions play a key role. Understanding individual adaptive capacity, i.e., the ability to cope under changing or novel circumstances, and considering how this capacity is affected by diverse individuals' interactions with formal fisheries policy may allow a better understanding of adaptive capacity in a rapidly changing world. In Loreto Bay National Park, Baja California Sur, Mexico, the Mexican chocolate clam is an important source of food and livelihoods and is harvested by a diverse group of fishers. Understanding the diversity of fishers, their decision-making processes, and their adaptive strategies is essential for both anticipating fishery outcomes and predicting the capacity of different types of fishers to adapt to environmental and economic change. We used semistructured interviews with clam harvesters to ask: (1) What types of fishers exist within the chocolate clam fishery? (2) How do they differ in their adaptive strategies? and (3) What are the implications of diverse fisher types on individual adaptive capacity? We find that fishers of chocolate clams in this region operate within both the formal and informal sectors, have varied fishing strategies, and can be characterized into four discrete types. We also find that heterogeneity among fishers affects their individual capacities to adapt to changing conditions and disturbances, and fisheries policy constrains fishers' access to options by limiting secure access to fishing rights. Maintaining a diverse suite of adaptive strategies is essential for individuals to cope in the face of future disturbance and change. Likewise, maintaining heterogeneity in the fishery, by ensuring that multiple fisher types are equipped to adapt to future change, will strengthen adaptive capacity within the fishery and community.

Ecosystem service lens reveals diverse community values of small-scale fisheries

“…This indicates that residents of Loreto who are not fishers also participate in the harvest of Mexican chocolate clams, and that the fishery itself is much more heterogeneous than accounted for by current fisheries management. This finding is supported by the previous work demonstrating that multiple fisher types harvest Mexican chocolate clams in Loreto, and that marginalized fisher groups are excluded from fisheries management processes (Pellowe and Leslie 2019 ).…”

“…Survey participants proposed several possible causes of observed changes including fisheries management, overfishing, increased demand for chocolate clams, and environmental change. Although survey participants were predominantly nonfishers, the nature of their observations of change and attributed causes of change echo those reported by harvesters of the Mexican chocolate clam in previous studies (Pellowe and Leslie 2019). Harvesters reported declines in Mexican chocolate clam populations over time, which they attributed to increased fishing effort resulting from changes in fisheries management (Pellowe and Leslie 2019).…”

“…Fisheries management decisions have consequences not only for fishers directly engaged in resource extraction, but also for the broader coastal community. In communities like Loreto, where relatively few individuals engage in regular harvest of the Mexican chocolate clam as commercial fishers (Pellowe and Leslie 2019 ), the values provided by the species to the broader coastal community are diverse and significant. Accounting for diverse ecosystem services and community perspectives in management requires first, identifying the values and aims of the community, and then, creating management that accounts for trade-offs and conflicts among multiple priorities (Loomis and Paterson 2014 ).…”

“…As is the case for many fished species, fisheries management of Mexican chocolate clams in Loreto Bay National Park focuses on the maximization of fisheries and economic yield. However, based on the importance of Mexican chocolate clams to local livelihoods (Pellowe and Leslie 2019 ), we hypothesize that the relationship between people and Mexican chocolate clams in the Loreto region is more multi-dimensional than is currently captured by fisheries management.…”

Size‐selective fishing leads to trade‐offs between fishery productivity and reproductive capacity

“…Yet, it is a data‐limited fishery lacking baseline biological data. Despite consistent landings over the past 20 yr (Pellowe and Leslie ), fishers have observed reduced abundance of clam populations (Pellowe and Leslie ). The Mexican chocolate clam is one of the top species harvested in Baja California Sur, which is part of Mexico's Gulf of California region.…”