This document provides acknowledgements and funding sources for a dissertation titled "Mapping the Human Dimension of Small-scale Fisheries in the Northern Gulf of California, Mexico" by Marcia Moreno-Baez. It thanks funding agencies and committee members who supported the research, as well as the author's family, colleagues, and friends who provided assistance. The dissertation aimed to understand small-scale fishing activities in the Northern Gulf of California through interviews and participatory mapping with fishers to provide essential information for fisheries management planning.

1. Acknowledgements
Funding Agencies:
•Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología
•David and Lucile Packard Foundation
•The University of Arizona
•Wallace Research Foundation
Committee Members:
•Dr. William Shaw
•Dr. Barron Orr
•Dr. Philip Guertin
•Dr. Tom McGuire
To my family:
James Collins
Jorge, Alba, Raquel, Jorge y Marcos
Dr. Luz Vázquez
Dr. Jaime Nubiola
Art Lab: Mickey Reed, Andrew
Honaman, Craig Weisler
SNR: Kathi, Samia, Taryn, Sonya
•Dr. Richard Cudney-Bueno and PANGUEROS: Ana Cinti and Dr. Jennie Duberstein,
Nabor Encinas, Erika Koltenuk, Alejandro Castillo, Dr.
Miguel Lavín, Rene Loaiza, Cesar Moreno, Adrián
Munguía, Tad Pfister, Dr. Pete Raimondi, Mario Rojo,
Alyssa Rosemartin, Ángeles Sánchez, Gaspar Soria, Dr.
Jorge Torre, Peggy Turk
Tucsonian Friends: Mariano, Anne, Hugo, Adriana, Mari, Nadia, Alma, Maite, Pablo, Pat, Mike, Patricia,
Laura, Jeremiah, Dan, Alison, Zack, Mattie, Monica, Don Carlos, Forest, Michele, Gillian, Emiliano.

2. MAPPING THE HUMAN DIMENSION
of Small-scale Fisheries in the
Northern Gulf of California, Mexico.
Marcia Moreno-Baez

3. Small-scale Fisheries are Central to the
Economic Vitality and Food Security of
Many Countries
• 38 million people are classified as fishers
(Béné, Macfadyen and Allison, 2007)
• ~90 percent are considered small-scale
• An additional 100+ million people involved in
the post-harvest sector

4. Most of the World's Fisheries Science
has been devote to Stock Assessment
• The disciplinary focus has been on biology
and, to some extent, economics
• Conventional approaches have not adequately
addressed the socio economic needs of
fisheries (Berkes et al. 2001)

5. THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA
Has a rich history in commercial
fisheries

6. USA
Asia
50%

7. Small-scale fisheries involve a
wide array of fishing gear,
methods and species

8. Best Available Information is Needed for
Successful Planning
Biophysical
Social
SmallEBM
scale
PANGAS
Fisheries
Political
Economic

9. Research Goal
To understand the human dimension of
small-scale fishing activities for
developing fisheries management plans
in the NGC
Biophysical
Social
Political
Economic
Smallscale
Fisheries

10. Objectives
• Use local knowledge to characterize fishing activities
• Understand the implications and contributions to
fisheries management
–
–
–
–
–
–
Who is fishing?
Where are they fishing?
What are they capturing?
How are they fishing?
When are they fishing?
Where are the spawning and reproductive sites?

11. THE NORTHERN GULF OF CALIFORNIA
MEXICO

12. Methods
Rapid Appraisal
Review of Existing Data
Integration of Local Knowledge
Design Semi-structured
Interview
Stratify Random Sampling
Internal Validation
Spatial and Temporal Analysis
Photo: Pérez, S./CEDO
n = 376
15% of total number of
panga captains
Conducting Interviews in
17 Fishing Communities

13. Semi-structure Interviews and
Participatory Mapping
1st Section
General
Information and
Social networks
Opinion about
fisheries
Target species
2nd Section
Spatial and
Temporal
distribution
Reproductive and
•Nursery grounds do
What species
And life history
you make a
dedicated trip to capture?
• What other species do you target?
Problems and
• Of all of these, what are the three
Additional
Information
most important?

14. Semi-structure Interviews and
Participatory Mapping
2nd Section
Spatial and
Temporal
distribution
Reproductive and
Nursery grounds
And life history
Problems and
Additional
Information
• What are your three primary fishing
zones for this species?
• What are your three secondary
fishing zones for this species?

15. Methods
Rapid Appraisal
n(i)= 376
n(m) = 764
Integration of Local Knowledge
Internal Validation
Spatial and Temporal Analysis
Compilation
Digital Integration
ArcGIS™ 9.2
Preliminary Analysis
ArcGIS™ 9.2

17. Methods
Rapid Appraisal
Integration of Local Knowledge
Internal Validation
Spatial and Temporal Analysis

18. MEXICO
Puerto Peñasco:
1. Diving (5 species)
2. Gillnets (4 species)
3. Longline and Traps
(2 species)
Bahía de Kino:
1. Diving (4 species)
2. Gillnets (4 species)
3. Traps (1 specie)

20. An Example of a Fishing Adjustment Before
and After an Internal Validation
(Moreno-Baez, et al, 2010)
Black murex (Hexaplex nigritus)

21. Methods
Rapid Appraisal
Integration of Local Knowledge
Internal Validation
Spatial and Temporal Analysis

22. Spatial Analysis to Meet the
Objectives
Who, What, Where, How and, When
Characterize
Fishing Activity
Common
Seasonal Fishing
Grounds
Vector-based
Analysis
Spawning and
Juvenile areas
+
Relative
Importance of
Fishing Grounds
Raster-based
Analysis

23. Different Vector-based Analyses
Were Used to Meet Objectives
Attribute
Queries
Species , Communities,
Fishing Method, Spawning
and juvenile areas
Relational
Algebra
Operators
Intersection = communities
overlap, Union = temporal
analysis

24. Spatial and Temporal Analysis to Meet
the Objectives
Characterize
Fishing Activity
Common
Seasonal Fishing
Grounds
Vector-based
Analysis
Spawning and
Juvenile areas
+
Raster-based
Analysis

25. Different Vector-based Analyses
Were Used to Meet Objectives
Attribute
Queries
+
Euclidian
Distance
Maximum and
median distance
from communities

26. Spatial and Temporal Analysis to Meet
the Objectives
Characterize
Fishing Activity
Common
Seasonal Fishing
Grounds
Vector-based
Analysis
Spawning and
Juvenile areas
Relative
Importance of
Fishing Grounds
Raster-based
Analysis

27. Raster-based Analysis Was Utilized to
Understand the Importance of Fishing
Grounds
• What are your three primary
fishing zones for this species?
• What are your three secondary
fishing zones for this species?
Grid Creation
(1.5 x 1.5
miles pixel
size)
Level of
Importance =
Value assigned
to pixel
Geostatistics
+ Fuzzy Logic
Fishing
Ground
Relative
Importance
Primary Fishing zones = 1.0
Secondary Fishing zones = 0.5

28. Results
•
•
•
•
•
•
Who is fishing?
Where are they fishing?
What are they capturing?
How are they fishing?
When are they fishing?
Where are the spawning and reproductive
sites?

29. Fishing activity in 60%
Of the total area
Fishing activity in 89%
Of the coast line
Rapid Appraisal 2005 - 2006

30. Rapid Appraisal 2005 - 2006
Communities
Max. Dist. (km)
Med. Dist. (km)
San Luis Gonzaga
51
Santo Tomas
43
San Jorge
177
San Felipe
Puerto Peñasco
94
Puerto Lobos
200
Puerto Libertad
18
Punta Jaguey
50
Punta Chueca
Los Dorados de Villa
108
Las Ánimas
95
Golfo de Santa Clara
100
El Barril
99
Desemboque Seri
150
Desemboque de Caborca
Bahia de los Ángeles
Bahia de Kino
Distance (km)
Traveled Distances from Community to Fishing Grounds
250
207
181
162
145
125
94
77
61
21
0

31. Results
• Who is fishing?
• Where are they fishing?
Where is fishing activity
concentrating?
Isla Ángel de
La Guarda
Isla Tiburón
Rapid Appraisal 2005 - 2006

32. Results
•
•
•
•
•
•
Who is fishing?
Where are they fishing?
What are they capturing?
How are they fishing?
When are they fishing?
Where are the spawning and reproductive
sites?

33. What are People Fishing?
• 74 species are being harvest
• 58 target species
– Based on a dedicated trip
• Spatial distribution of harvest location of 52
species
(Moreno-Baez et al, In press)

34. Octopus hubssorum or O. bimaculatus
Epinephelus acanthistius
Isla Ángel de
La Guarda
Isla Tiburón
Rapid Appraisal 2005 - 2006

35. Rapid Appraisal 2005 - 2006
Number of Species Captured by Each
Community
Number of Communities
5
4
3
2
1
0
1-10
11-20
21-30
31-40
41-50
Number of Species Captured
51-60
61-70

36. Results
•
•
•
•
•
•
Who is fishing?
Where are they fishing?
What are they capturing?
How are they fishing?
When are they fishing?
Where are the spawning and reproductive
sites?

37. Photos: Cinti, A., Rojo M./COBI, Morales, O.
Rapid Appraisal 2005 - 2006

38. Results
•
•
•
•
•
•
Who is fishing?
Where are they fishing?
What are they capturing?
How are they fishing?
When are they fishing?
Where are the spawning and reproductive
sites?

39. Isla Ángel de
La Guarda
Isla Tiburón

40. Results
•
•
•
•
•
•
Who is fishing?
Where are they fishing?
What are they capturing?
How are they fishing?
When are they fishing?
Where are the spawning and reproductive
sites?
Rapid Appraisal 2005 - 2006

41. Implications for Management
• The spatial and temporal data may provide
support that helps managers balance the
local demand for the resource and the
ecological integrity of the system

42. Rapid Appraisal 2005 - 2006

43. Conclusions
• Key local knowledge can be incorporated
into and corroborated during the datacollection process
• Data can be used within large, regional
scales with multiple fishing communities
and highly diverse fishing activities

44. Conclusions
 Incorporating fishers’ knowledge through
participatory research can provide essential
information for the development of any
future management schemes in the NGC

45. Conclusions
• This process increases the opportunity for
dialogue between local fishers, natural
resource managers, and researchers
• Engagement of local fishers can bring
transparency to integration of local
knowledge

46. The Human Dimension is Only One
Aspect to be Incorporated into
Planning for Fisheries Management
Biophysical
Social
Smallscale
Fisheries
Political
Economic

47. http://pangas.arizona.edu

48. QUESTIONS
Marcia Moreno-Baez
Email: mamoreno@email.arizona.edu