Print PageIn the Gulf of California, the majority of the ecosystem services are associated with high productivity sites on land and at seas, such that oceanic anomalies adjust and direct the productivity in these areas. How do El Niño and La Niña cycles affect fisheries production and revenues and how do high productivity sites recover once extractives activities are removed? are some of the questions cover in this presentation. We used information from two of the most important reef fish fisheries in the Gulf of California, the yellow snapper (Lutjanus argentiventris) and the leopard grouper (Mycteroperca rosacea), and information of three of the major ecosystems in the region (mangrove forests, sargassum beds, and seamounts-rocky reefs) to explore the answers of the questions mentioned above. We combined annual underwater surveys of juveniles and adult fishes with fisheries landings and revenue statistics to elucidate the changes related with climate variability.
Results/Conclusions
We found that the population structure of both reef fish species is affected by the impact of climate variability on their nurseries ecosystems. The Multivariate ENSO Index (MEI) explained the abundance of juveniles and fisheries landings for both species; increasing recruitment translated into greater fisheries landings once individuals recruited into fishing stocks. Fishery revenues increased 3.7 and 5-fold for yellow snapper and leopard grouper, respectively, during ”boom” years. Areas where these two species form spawning aggregations, which are considered high productivity sites, showed dramatic and rapid recovery once fishing activities were banned and regulations were well-enforced. Biomass of these species have increased more than 400% inside the protected areas and represent more than five times biomass compare with fished areas. These results indicate that high productivity sites must be the basis of management plans in the Gulf of California, because they sustain production of the largest fisheries, provide fertility to the sea and land, and regulate the source of income for local communities.
