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Papers by Marcia Moreno-Báez

Marine Policy

Holbox Island is a contemporary hotspot for global tourism. Here, long-term coastal exploitation ... more Holbox Island is a contemporary hotspot for global tourism. Here, long-term coastal exploitation and increasing anthropogenic activities threaten coastal habitat sand resources. The impact of these activities is exacerbated by the lack of a management plan for the past 24 years, until October 2018. An interdisciplinary approach that integrates fishers’ traditional knowledge was used to determine how small-scale fisheries (SSF) exploitation contributed to the decline of resources over time. Open interviews with community members and surveys of fishers’ perspectives on fisheries overexploitation and practices as well as knowledge of fishing sites were collected. Over one hundred fishing sites were documented that were once very productive. Furthermore, over 40 species were highly fished (e.g., Carcharhinidae, Shpyrnidae, Pristidae, Cheloniidae) over the past 50 years. Survey results allowed for the construction of maps with base line information of coastal exploitation. Additional data from archaeozoological remains (n= 545) of aquatic fauna identified 33 families of exploited taxa, of which finfish (e.g., Haemulidaea, Ariidae, Serranidae), sharks (e.g., Carcharhinidae), and sea turtles were the most abundant. Fishers and literature sources (n= 50) document Holbox’s contemporary issues, including overfishing, illegalfishing, and accelerated tourism development. These types of data (fishers’ perspectives, interdisciplinary literature, and archaeozoological data) were combined using historical ecology technique sand geospatial tools to obtain novel baseline information on SSF exploitation. This information is essential for conservation managers and scientists to meet the management needs of Holbox’s natural and social capital, which can assure the future provision of coastal ecosystem services to humans.

Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries

Regional Studies in Marine Science

Biodiversity and Conservation

Global change biology, Feb 22, 2017

Marine reserves are widely used to protect species important for conservation and fisheries and t... more Marine reserves are widely used to protect species important for conservation and fisheries and to help maintain ecological processes that sustain their populations, including recruitment and dispersal. Achieving these goals requires well-connected networks of marine reserves that maximize larval connectivity, thus allowing exchanges between populations and recolonization after local disturbances. However, global warming can disrupt connectivity by shortening potential dispersal pathways through changes in larval physiology. These changes can compromise the performance of marine reserve networks, thus requiring adjusting their design to account for ocean warming. To date, empirical approaches to marine prioritization have not considered larval connectivity as affected by global warming. Here, we develop a framework for designing marine reserve networks that integrates graph theory and changes in larval connectivity due to potential reductions in planktonic larval duration (PLD) asso...

PloS one, 2017

To gauge the collateral impacts of fishing we must know where fishing boats operate and how much ... more To gauge the collateral impacts of fishing we must know where fishing boats operate and how much they fish. Although small-scale fisheries land approximately the same amount of fish for human consumption as industrial fleets globally, methods of estimating their fishing effort are comparatively poor. We present an accessible, spatial method of calculating the effort of small-scale fisheries based on two simple measures that are available, or at least easily estimated, in even the most data-poor fisheries: the number of boats and the local coastal human population. We illustrate the method using a small-scale fisheries case study from the Gulf of California, Mexico, and show that our measure of Predicted Fishing Effort (PFE), measured as the number of boats operating in a given area per day adjusted by the number of people in local coastal populations, can accurately predict fisheries landings in the Gulf. Comparing our values of PFE to commercial fishery landings throughout the Gulf...

Conservation Letters, 2016

If efforts to conserve endangered species lack long-term visions and neglect the human dimensions... more If efforts to conserve endangered species lack long-term visions and neglect the human dimensions, conservation success will be questionable. Exclusion of stakeholders in decisions can lead to mistrust and polarization of groups. The story of the vaquita marina (Phocoena sinus) in the Upper Gulf of Califor-nia provides a unique opportunity to discuss this paradigm. A proposed gear-switch in the local fisheries addresses the bycatch that threatens the vaquita but neglects local livelihoods, the traditions and heritage of the community, the ecological integrity of the area and increases dependence on fishing subsidies. We estimate it will cost an additional US $8.5 million (2/3 of the net revenue produced by gillnets and 30% more in fuel consumption) if local revenues are to be maintained at pre-gear-switch levels. In addition, suggested new trawl gears caught 2.7 times more unusable (therefore discarded) bycatch than gillnets, which included invertebrates and small juvenile fishes of economically valuable species. Our results show that the proposed gear switch intervention can be considered another " quick-fix " intervention in the history of the vaquita conservation agenda that urgently needs long-term goals that incorporate ecological, economic, and human wellbeing.

Journal of the Southwest, 2015

La pesca artesanal es una actividad que brinda ganancias económicas considerables para millones d... more La pesca artesanal es una actividad que brinda ganancias económicas considerables para millones de personas en el mundo. En México significa fuente de empleo y alimento para las comunidades costeras, el resto del país y el mercado internacional. Sin embargo, la sobreexplotación de los recursos pesqueros ha puesto en peligro no sólo la economía de las familias que viven de la pesca, sino también la salud de los ecosistemas y procesos ecológicos de los cuales dependen muchas otras especies

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2015

Environmental governance is more effective when the scales of ecological processes are well match... more Environmental governance is more effective when the scales of ecological processes are well matched with the human institutions charged with managing human–environment interactions. The social-ecological systems (SESs) framework provides guidance on how to assess the social and ecological dimensions that contribute to sustainable resource use and management, but rarely if ever has been operationalized for multiple localities in a spatially explicit, quantitative manner. Here, we use the case of small-scale fisheries in Baja California Sur, Mexico, to identify distinct SES regions and test key aspects of coupled SESs theory. Regions that exhibit greater potential for social-ecological sustainability in one dimension do not necessarily exhibit it in others, highlighting the importance of integrative, coupled system analyses when implementing spatial planning and other ecosystem-based strategies.

Recurrent crises due to overexploitation of fishery resources have been among the biggest natural... more Recurrent crises due to overexploitation of fishery resources have been among the biggest natural resource management failures of the 20th century. This problem has both biological and socio-political elements and understanding of human dimensions represents a key step toward the formulation of sound management guidelines for natural resources. One of the strategies proposed to understand human dimensions is through the

Fisheries Research, 2015

ABSTRACT We engaged in collaborative research with two small-scale fishing communities inside the... more ABSTRACT We engaged in collaborative research with two small-scale fishing communities inside the Upper Gulf of California Biosphere Reserve in Mexico, San Felipe (SF) and El Golfo de Santa Clara (GSC), to test how well the geographic heterogeneity of fishing activities within the reserve coincided with current regulations. We compared the two communities in terms of catch composition, fishing effort, ex-vessel prices and rev-enues, seasonal patterns in fishing activities in relation to the reproductive seasons of target species, and spatial patterns of fishing in relation to managed zones within the reserve. The top four species (Cynoscion othonopterus, Micropogonias megalops, Scomberomorus concolor, Litopenaeus stylirostris) in terms of rel-ative effort, catch, and revenues were the same for both communities but overall fisheries production, effort, and revenues were higher in GSC than SF for these species. Fishing activities in GSC followed a predictable annual cycle that began with L. stylirostris and were followed sequentially by the harvesting of C. othonopterus, M. megalops, and S. concolor during their respective spawning seasons, which were associated with seasonal variations in ex-vessel prices. Conversely, catch and revenues in SF were more diversified, less dependent on those four species, less seasonal, and did not show seasonal variations in prices. Interactions between fisheries and managed zones also differed such that SF interacted mainly with the southwest portion of the vaquita (Phocoena sinus) refuge, whereas GSC fished over a larger area and interacted mainly with the northeast portion of the vaquita refuge and the no-take zone. Our results indicate the two communities differ markedly in their socio-economic dependence on fisheries, their spatio-temporal patterns of fishing, their use of and impacts on species, coastal ecosystems and man-aged areas, and how different regulations may affect livelihoods. Regional management and conservation efforts should account for these differences to ensure the protection of endangered species and to sustain ecosystem services that maintain livelihoods and healthy coastal ecosystems. This study provides fur-ther evidence of the ability of collaborative research between scientists and fishers to produce robust and fine-scale fisheries and biological information that improves the collective knowledge and management of small-scale fisheries within marine protected areas.

Latin American Journal of Aquatic Research, 2014

Marine Policy, 2014

ABSTRACT Marine fisheries support the livelihoods of millions of people worldwide. These fisherie... more ABSTRACT Marine fisheries support the livelihoods of millions of people worldwide. These fisheries and the communities that depend on them are highly vulnerable to climate change and other interacting anthropogenic threats. The cumulative and interacting effects of these stressors could potentially produce declines in fish production, which would significantly impact artisanal fishers. Assessing relative vulnerability of fishing communities to anthropogenic stressors is an important first step to identifying mitigation or adaptation strategies. This study assessed the vulnerability of 12 coastal communities in the Northern Gulf of California to disruptions in fishing activities from anthropogenic stressors, including climate change. The Northern Gulf is a megadiverse area and a major source of fishery resources. Quantitative indicator indices based on secondary and primary data were developed to assess the three aspects of vulnerability: sensitivity, exposure, and adaptive capacity. The key components of vulnerability varied amongst communities. Vulnerability was higher in communities with higher fishing dependence and lower socioeconomic diversification. The approach presented here provides important insights into the type of policy actions that might be needed in different communities for adaptation and mitigation.