Integrating Biophysical, Socio-Economic and Governance Principles Into Marine Reserve Design and Management in Mexico: From Theory to Practice

Abstract

Marine conservation design and fisheries management are increasingly integrating biophysical, socio-economic and governance considerations. Integrative approaches are adopted to achieve more effective, equitable, inclusive, and robust marine policies and practices. This paper describes a participatory process to co-produce biophysical, socio-economic, and governance principles to guide the design and management of marine reserves in three regions of Mexico: the Pacific region of the Baja California Peninsula, the Gulf of California, and the Mexican Caribbean. The process of co-producing the principles included convening a coordination team, reviewing the science, convening multi-stakeholder workshops, developing and communicating the principles with key practitioners and policy makers, and supporting uptake and application to policy and practice. Biophysical principles were related to: habitat representation and risk spreading; protecting critical, special and unique areas; incorporating connectivity; allowing time for recovery; adapting to changes in climate and ocean chemistry; and considering threats and opportunities. Socio-economic principles focused on: integrating the social context, local aspirations, and human-environment interactions; considering economic and non-economic uses, promoting an equitable distribution of costs and benefits, and respecting and maintaining cultural identity and diversity. Governance principles prioritized establishing and ensuring legitimacy and institutional continuity; implementing collaborative and adaptive management; and, promoting effective management. The paper also examines early efforts to implement the principles, next steps to promote further uptake and application in Mexico, and lessons learned from the process. Thus it provides insights into a practical process and a set of principles that are valuable to inform marine conservation and fisheries management processes elsewhere.

Integral Management Zones: A novel strategy for marine bivalve production in the Gulf of California, Mexico

“…In the last few decades, however, a substantial amount of collaborative work have been done in the GC region among civil society organizations (CSOs), government agencies, fishing organizations and other community members, to reverse resources and ecosystem degradation through innovative initiatives, for example, tools of recent incorporation into fishery legislation such as the networks of fishing refuge zones (permanently or temporarily closed to fishing) (Quintana & Basurto, 2020; Précoma‐de la Mora et al, 2021; SAGARPA, 2017), voluntary community reserves and market incentive programmes (e.g., eco‐labelling, certifications and consumer guides) (Espinosa‐Romero et al, 2017; Fernández‐Rivera Melo et al, 2018b).…”

Short-term effects of community-based marine reserves on green abalone, as revealed by population studies

“…Worldwide, different types of MRs exist depending on the level of protection provided to the ecosystem 17 . Mexico has a long history of protecting the marine environment, with MRs totaling around 700,000 km 2 in the present 18 . One example of success are community-based marine conservation initiatives establishing no-take MRs within fishing concession zones 19 .…”

Two Decades of Community-Based Marine Conservation Provide the Foundations for Future Action

“…Here, we document the results of two decades of prolific collaborations between fishing communities and the Mexican non-profit organization "Comunidad y Biodiversidad A.C." (COBI). Our objective is not to provide "best practices" or "design principles" for the implementation of marine reserves, which have been covered elsewhere in the literature (Sala et al, 2002;Halpern and Warner, 2003;Munguia-Vega et al, 2018;Precoma de la Mora et al, 2021). Instead, we pursue the more modest objective of summarizing the achievements from two decades of community-based marine conservation, and to proving future policy makers, managers, and scientists with a foundation on which to continue to develop the marine conservation movement.…”