| | |  Editorials | Environmental | July 2008 
Mexico Risks Losing Multimillion-Dollar Fisheries
 Eliza Barclay - National Geographic News
go to original
| | A juvenile pacific dog snapper swims between the roots of red mangrove trees along the coast of Mexico's Concepcin Bay in the Gulf of California. A new study shows that 2.5 acres (1 hectare) of mangrove forest in the region support an average of $37,500 worth of commercial fish. (Octavio Aburto-Oropeza) | | |
The loss of Mexico's coastal mangrove forests to development is threatening the country's multimillion-dollar fishing industry, according to a new study.
Around Mexico's Gulf of California - between Baja Peninsula and the west coast of the mainland - mangroves are being destroyed to make way for high-end tourism resorts, marinas, and controversial industrial shrimp farms, according to the report by researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.
The government has overvalued such development and grossly undervalued the vital role mangroves play in supporting the region's $19 million dollar fishing industry, according to the report, published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Gulf of California mangroves harbor more than 100 fish species, 30 percent of which depend on mangroves for survival.
In particular, mangroves serve as a sanctuary and nursery for commercial species such as snapper, snook and mullet.
Money Trees
Researchers found that in the Gulf of California 2.5 acres (one hectare) of coastal mangrove helps produce an average of $37,500 worth of harvestable fish and crab species annually. Over the productive life of a mangrove forest, roughly 30 years, one hectare is worth $600,000, according to the paper.
When considering the ecological cost of development, the Mexican National Forest Commission values one hectare at $1,020 annually, and considers six years of productivity, according to the researchers.
The research is one of the first quantitative analyses of the ecosystem services of mangroves to fisheries.
"We can plant mangrove seedlings but we cant bring back all the biodiversity and complexities, and seldom can we bring back all the ecosystems services that they provide," said Enric Sala, a coauthor and marine ecologist formerly at Scripps and now a National Geographic Explorer. (National Geographic News is owned by the National Geographic Society.)
Thirteen fishing regions in the gulf produced an average of 11,500 tons of mangrove-derived fish and blue crab per year between 2001 and 2005, generating nearly $19 million for local fishermen, the study found.
Worldwide, mangrove ecosystem services have been estimated to be worth $1.68 billion.
"Up to now, mangroves have only been recognized for their aesthetic value for high-end tourism and development," said Miguel ngel Vargas of Pronatura Noroeste, the regional arm of Mexican conservation organization Pronatura.
"Now we know they form the base of the regions fishing industry as well."
Greenpeace Mexico says the countrys mangroves, which currently encompass 2.2 million acres (886,760 hectares), are being lost to development at a rate of 25,000 acres (10,000 hectares) annually.
In an attempt to slow mangrove obliteration, Mexico President Felipe Calderon approved changes to the General Wildlife Law in February 2007 that prohibit the "removal, refilling, transplant, pruning, or any project or activity that affects the integrity of the hydrologic flow of the mangrove, of the ecosystem and its zone of influence."
Conservationists applauded the change, but the countrys powerful tourism industry, which has billions of dollars invested in future resorts sited on or near mangroves, is fiercely pushing back and taking legal action in hopes of being granted exemption from the law, according to news reports.
The Scripps study has broad implications for coastal conservation policy in Mexico, according to the paper's authors, who say it will give fishing communities new ammunition to defend their fishing grounds from development.
"So far the fishery sector has not spoken out about the value of the mangroves," said Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, the studys lead author and a marine biologist at the Scripps Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation.
"It's very important that they come to the discussion table to start saying how important mangroves are for food production and economic benefits for families."
The studys authors suggest that if mangroves are to be converted for development and services of the ecosystem lost, then fishermen dependent on the services should be remunerated.
Currently, Mexicos National Fisheries and Aquaculture Commission (CONAPESCA) does not offer compensation to communities that lose fishing resources when mangroves are razed.
"CONAPESCA recognizes the environmental services of the mangroves, but it is not able to compensate coastal communities for their protection, given that the mangrove is not itself a fishing resource," said Ral Villaseor, deputy director of regulations for CONAPESCA. |
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us