IMPACTS OF ENSO ON SMALL-SCALE FISHERIES CATCH IN GULF OF CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
Abstract
Climatic shocks impact fisheries and the livelihoods of millions of people. Fishermen
have various strategies to respond to shocks such as switching target species or engaging
in alternative income activities. However, it is unclear how biodiversity in fisheries
mitigates impacts to fishermen’s revenues. To answer this question, we focused on
small-scale fisheries in the Gulf of California (GoC) in this study and examined how
species diversity in fisheries may mitigate the impact of El Nino South Oscillation
(ENSO) events.
We hypothesized that species with different life histories would respond to ENSO differently
in terms of direction and magnitude and that this would result in different impacts
on biomass and associated catches. As result, we expect that fisheries targeting species
whose responses towards ENSO are more heterogeneous will have more stable total catch
and revenue.
To test this hypothesis we used detailed fisheries catch and price data (2001- 2010)
from government fishing offices in the GoC. The results of this research help shed
light on the role of biodiversity conservation in supporting fisheries and human well-being.
Type
Master's projectPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/8573Citation
Zheng, Shumin (2014). IMPACTS OF ENSO ON SMALL-SCALE FISHERIES CATCH IN GULF OF CALIFORNIA, MEXICO. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/8573.Collections
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