Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation

The Golfo de Santa Clara is a remote town in the Upper Gulf of California, where 50%-80% of the community is actively involved in the small-scale fishing industry. The relationship between market price and fishery yields is crucial to understand because it dictates the revenue for the local fishermen. In this study we examined each fishery dynamics and the relationship between market price and cumulative capture for Blue shrimp (Litopenaeua stylirostris), Gulf corvine (Cynoscion othonopterus), Bigeye croaker (Micropogonias megalops), and Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus spp.). We discovered unique fishery dynamics and interactions between market price and capture for each fishery. Blue shrimp had a positive linear relationship between market price and cumulative capture. Gulf corvina had a negative logistic relationship between market price and cumulative capture, where the market price dropped off at the end of lent. Bigeye croaker had a positive logistic relationship between market price and cumulative capture, while for the two different seasons analyzed Spanish mackerel had two different relationships (positive logistic & quadratic) between market price and cumulative capture. A system wide evaluation, which incorporated dynamics of all four fisheries, showed that the system was made up of three distinct components, the Blue shrimp, Spanish mackerel, and then the combination of the Gulf corvina and Bigeye croaker. The Blue shrimp component had a significant impact on all of the other fisheries’ market prices. This study shows the importance of evaluating fisheries from a multi-species system perspective rather than a single species perspective. By taking into consideration the interactions between fisheries management can better aim to set regulations that have a positive impact on all fisheries, rather than regulating a single species at the expense of sustainable practices of other fisheries.