Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores, Unidad Mérida, Universidad Nacional Auónoma de México, Ucú, Yucatán, Mexico.
Laboratorio de Análisis Espacial de Zonas Costeras, Unidad Multidisciplinaria de Docencia e Investigación, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Sisal, Yucatán, Mexico.
PLoS One. 2021 Mar 26;16(3):e0249132. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249132. eCollection 2021.
Formal and informal institutions govern fisheries around the world. Yucatan's sea cucumber fishery is not an exemption, the sudden and fast development of the fishery in 2010 has motivated the creation of informal and illegal forms of organization. The prices, buyers' interest and the fishing effort substantially increased, being followed by illegal fishing-fishers and traders, creating informal fishing-trade channels and severe social and biological concerns. This article aims to give account of the emergence and dynamics of the informal institutions which currently dominate this fishery. It was sought to identify the extent to which rules and regulations are not being respected and how they are affecting fish resources and coastal communities. We considered the case of the port of Sisal, Yucatan, Mexico to illustrate our argument and here we applied a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methodologies including informal and in-depth interviews applied to 17 key informants, a questionnaire applied to 47 fishers and an estimation of the degree of compliance from three of the main management measures. Socio-biological negative impacts were identified in Yucatan's coastal communities and its fisheries. Foreign buyers and local middlemen exert high pressure on fishers to exceed the quota and catch the highest possible volumes facilitating the fisheries decline. This and the growing economic interest motivated the development of strong informal institutions supporting illegal fishing and informal trade. Social problems emerged and women were particularly affected. The economic power of the fishery is likely to overcome any type of governance structure. The enforcement of entry rules was not effective, so the governance base was around informality and illegal actions. Local and foreign buyers are exerting pressure to increase the catch volume thus it is recommended that rules and regulations be directed at buyers and exporting companies rather than at fishers.
世界范围内的渔业受到正式和非正式制度的制约。尤卡坦半岛的海参渔业也不例外，2010 年该渔业的突然快速发展促使非正式和非法组织形式的出现。随之而来的是价格、买家的兴趣和捕捞努力的大幅增加，非法捕捞者和贸易商也随之出现，形成了非正式的捕捞-贸易渠道，并引发了严重的社会和生物问题。本文旨在说明目前主导该渔业的非正式制度的出现和动态。我们试图确定在多大程度上不遵守规则和法规，以及它们如何影响鱼类资源和沿海社区。我们以墨西哥尤卡坦州的锡萨尔港为例来说明我们的观点，并在此应用了定性和定量相结合的方法，包括对 17 名关键信息提供者进行非正式和深入的访谈、对 47 名渔民进行问卷调查以及从三个主要管理措施中评估合规程度。尤卡坦沿海社区及其渔业出现了社会-生物负面影响。外国买家和当地中间商向渔民施加了很大的压力，要求他们超过配额并捕捞尽可能多的数量，这使得渔业衰退。这种情况和不断增长的经济利益促使支持非法捕捞和非正式贸易的强大非正式制度的发展。社会问题出现了，妇女尤其受到影响。渔业的经济实力可能会克服任何类型的治理结构。入境规则的执行并不有效，因此治理基础是围绕非正式和非法行动。当地和外国买家正在施加压力，要求增加捕捞量，因此建议将规则和法规针对买家和出口公司，而不是渔民。
