Common Name
Yellowtail Amberjack
Scientific Name
Seriola lalandi
The marine finfish fishery is important in the northwest of Mexico, particularly within the Gulf of California, in zones such as Guaymas, Sonora. Artisanal fishery uses different fishing gear such as handline, purse seine, and gillnets. In Guaymas, Sonora, the fishery was initially developed using traditional artisanal methods such as handline (hook and line) since it was the favorite gear for the capture of the species. This gear is one of their principal strengths of the finfish fishery in Guaymas since the handline has been demonstrated to be one of the most selective fishing gears, with a high survival success following release.
The main catches of the region corresponding to sardines, with industrial fishing, and shrimp, with industrial and artisanal fishing. Artisanal fishers in this region do not have a single target species, but alternate between different species based on their possibilities and market demand (Yurkievich and Sánchez, 2016). The main species caught by fishers who use the handline as fishing gear in Guaymas are Yellowtail (Seriola lalandi), red snapper (Lutjanus peru), Goldspotted sand bass (Paralabrax auroguttatus), ocean whitefish (Calolatilus princeps), and Rooster hind (Hyporthodus acanthistius). Commercial harvest for these group of fishes is conducted in small vessels using different fishing gears, from hook and lines with live bait (sardine and mackerel), drift gillnets, trawling and encircling gillnets in open seas and areas near the coast.
Unfortunately, there is a lack of biological and fishery information for this fishery in Mexico. In the National Fishery Chart (INAPESCA, 2010) the above-mentioned species are classified as coastal finfish. This group is composed of a large diversity of species, with different life cycles, including those that inhabit the coast and lagoons up to the border of the external continental shelf which can reach near 200 meters depth. This group is managed without short and long-term species-specific objectives.
It is for the above that, in Guaymas, Sonora, finfish fishermen who use handline for the extraction of these species were interested in developing their practices under the characteristics of sustainable fishing. For this, they approached Comunidad y Biodiversidad, A. C. (COBI) to achieve international fisheries sustainability standards.
This FIP is going to Comprehensive (2020-2024).
| 29% | 21% | 50% |
| 0% |
| Behind | On Track | Complete | Future |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0% | 100% | 0% | 0% |
| Behind | On Track | Complete | Future |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0% | 100% | 0% | 0% |
General objective:
Generate biological and population information of Yellowtail (Seriola lalandi), red snapper (Lutjanus peru), Goldspotted sand bass (Paralabrax auroguttatus), ocean whitefish (Caulolatilus princeps) and Rooster hind (Hyporthodus acanthistius) to propose management strategies to transform the management of artisanal handline fishery in Guaymas, Sonora, through the implementation of all 28 indicators of the sustainable fishing standard MSC, and achieve certification of this fishery by 2024.
Specific FIP objectives:
• Generate basic information of the fishery through the monitoring of fishing logbooks (January-December, 2020-2024).
• Generate information on the population of the five species of the FIP (stock assessment, ECOPAT analysis, mobility) (January 2020-December 2021).
• Define reference points for the yellowtail, red snapper, ocean whitefish,golden sand bass and roster hind fishery.
• Assess the ecosystem’s fishery’s impacts.
• Promote the development of regulations of specific harvest strategies in the species of the finfish fishery (January 2020- December 2024).
• Design and promote a monitor compliance system in the fishing cooperative (October 2022-December 2024)