Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - The Undersecretary of Fisheries has approximately 3,500 registered fishermen in Nayarit, though it is known that there are a number of fishermen and boats that are not yet registered.

On Wednesday, October 5, 2011, in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, a new CONAPESCA program for Fisheries Management in the state of Nayarit was initiated. The head of SAGARPA, Peter Guevara Aguirre, predicted the completion of this program in December of this year.

The program is being run by the Autonomous University of Nayarit, which will complete a count of how many fishermen there are, as well as the amount of fishing gear, boats, and engines that perform this activity in the Banderas Bay region.

Last August, CONAPESCA signed an agreement of cooperation between the Fisheries Management of Nayarit and the Autonomous University of Nayarit, with an investment of $4,600,000 pesos designated for carrying out this survey by next December.

The event, led by the National Commission on Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture, CONAPESCA, took place in the Marina Riviera Nayarit, and was attended by fishermen from around the state, federal officials, state and federal representatives of Nayarit and Jalisco, and aldermen from the Bahía de Banderas and Compostela.

Sergio Castillo Vargas Machuca, a professor at the Autonomous University of Nayarit, explained that upon completion of the survey three steps will be taken: photo badging of all state coastal fishermen, registration of ships at no cost to the fisherman, and the installation of microchips in these vessels with information regarding the boat registration number, motor and fishing permit.

The next phase of this project will be fisheries management based on the data collected, with applications for legal operation of boats and fishing permits classified by type of fishing gear, as well as decision making to re-design policies to revitalize the fishing industry of Nayarit.