World Wildlife Fund

MSC-certified fishermen with spiny lobsters.
© WWF-Canon/Gustavo Ybarra

WWF is leading the way in developing new marine reserves that support local communities and combat challenges facing this region. We are collaborating with local and international partners to develop innovative fishing methods that increase the value of fisheries, enhance livelihoods in coastal communities, and restore the health of marine ecosystems. 

Promotion of sustainable fisheries 

• Red lobster certification, an example for community-based fisheries: In 2004, WWF, in collaboration with Comunidad y Biodiversidad A.C. (COBI), supported the certification of a lobster fishery in the western coast of the Baja California peninsula by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). Approving the review established under international criteria for sustainable and well-managed fisheries, the Baja California Federation of the Fishing Cooperative Societies (FEDECOOP) became the first community-based fishery in a developing country that obtains this certification.
  
• Small pelagic fish, food for all: In 2005, we started to promote the certification of small pelagic fish fisheries (sardines, anchovies) - the main source of food for seabirds, marine mammals and predatory species in the Gulf of California and Magdalena Bay, Baja California.  We aimed at driving a sustainable fishery, generating economic incentives and the conservation of biodiversity. WWF and the National Chamber of the Aquaculture and Fisheries Industry (CANAINPESCA) Sonora Section are financing the certification process. In 2006, the MSC approved the beginning of the second phase of the process, which consists of conducting an evaluation of the whole fisheries system. The commercial sector in Magdalena Bay agreed to carry out a preliminary cost-benefit study for this certification. The Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas (CICIMAR) is conducting a survey about bird and marine mammal demand of sardines, which will provide information to be used in determining how much sardine is left available for fishing. In an unprecedented agreement, commercial fishermen accepted to conduct part of their fishery operations outside of Magdalena Bay, in order to reduce the interaction of fisheries with the ecosystem.
  
• General Law on Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture: WWF developed and promoted a new fisheries law, including sustainability and conservation principles. In 2005, the federal government called upon citizens to participate in a reform to this legislation. WWF, other NGOs and regional fishermen prepared a proposal with examples of co-management and fisheries concessions existing in Mexico and in other countries. In May 2007, the reform to the General Law on Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture was passed and validated by the House of Senators and Representatives. The new law fosters sustainable aquaculture and fisheries practices to guarantee enough natural resources for future generations. Besides, it demands management plans -every fishery shall have specific rules and regulations that identify and design fishing sites, better equipment, closed seasons and catch levels to prevent over-fishing and to recover Mexican fisheries-. WWF, in collaboration with other organizations and institutions, continues to promote the preparation and implementation of fisheries management plans, derived from this new law. It is working to promote it at fishing communities in the Gulf of California through a comic book entitled “Hombres de Mar” (Men of the Sea), a story of good fishing practices and economical benefits promoted by this new law.
  
• Code of conduct for sustainable fisheries: Within the framework of an agreement with the National Fisheries Institute in 2004, we are in the process of implementing the principles of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, following an evaluation process recommended by national and international experts. The adoption of the Code will contribute to the regulation and control of fishing activities and will be a guideline for authorities as well as for commercial fisheries with regards to the most environmentally responsible and least harmful way of performing their activities. WWF is working on the communication of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries among the fishing communities in the Gulf of California by distributing the “Hombres de Mar” comic book, a fun and amusing story that speaks of this Code of Conduct and its benefits.
  
• Enhancement and creation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs): Since 2000, we have promoted the creation of MPAs. Based on a survey supported by WWF, the Mexican government issued an executive order declaring the marine zone surrounding the San Lorenzo Archipelago a Natural Protected Area, with the category of National Park, to protect and preserve the marine ecosystem and to regulate the exploitation of the aquatic flora and fauna. This marine and coastal system is characterized by the abundance of species like the blue whale, the Ridley turtle and the totoaba (an endemic fish that is endangered due to over-fishing); it includes important stocks for commercial and recreational fishing as well as birds and marine mammals, and acts as a generator of biological resources, where small pelagic fish and reef species stand out.

Minimizing tourism impacts and promoting tourism best practices

• Redesign of the “Escalera Náutica” project: In 2002, the Alliance for the Sustainability of the Mexican Northwestern Coast (ALCOSTA), the joint effort of WWF and 17 other conservation organizations in the region that share a common vision, proposed a statement of the general impact for the Gulf of California. The Ministry of Environment took into consideration 90 percent of the recommendations to be included in the redesign of the “Escalera Náutica” project in 2004.  The project now considers more environmental elements based on the reconstruction of the existing marinas and on the incorporation of impact mitigation activities linked to the construction of new marinas, specifically on islands. Initially, the Escalera Náutica project was established as a tourism mega-project for five states -Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Sinaloa and Nayarit, with 29 stops, airports, hotels, condominiums, sports clubs and golf courses, with consequences on the overexploitation of land and marine resources.
  
• Best Practices Manual for Marinas: The National Fisheries Institute published a Best Management Practices Manual for Marinas and a Mexican Standard for Tourism Marinas based on a social participation program for the strengthening of environmental policy instruments for tourism marinas in the Gulf of California, with the support of WWF and other organizations.

Conservation of priority species

• Efforts to save the vaquita: In 2004 and 2005, WWF- in coordination with the federal government - performed a series of studies to determine the economic value of artisanal fisheries in the Upper Gulf based on the purchase of fishing rights, as part of a strategy to save the vaquita (a marine mammal whose numbers are estimated at 150 live specimens). The dialogue group: Alto Golfo Sustentable (AGS), coordinated by NOS, which is constituted by WWF, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Pronatura, AC, Ocean Garden Products – a Mexican company that exports shrimp to the USA- and fishermen from the three Upper Gulf communities agreed to work on the attainment of three goals (the Peñasco Agreements), which include
  
  • Eliminating vaquita bycatch
  • Eliminating illegal fishing in the Upper Gulf of California
  • Improving the efficiency of shrimp fishery. 

In 2005, as a result  of a joint effort between the federal sector, the governments of the states of Baja California and Sonora, AGS and NGOs, an executive order was issued to establish a special protection zone for the vaquita with an area that was not included in the original executive order of the Reserve. This area comprises a surface area of 897.09 km2 inside the Upper Gulf of California and Colorado River Delta Biosphere Reserve, and another adjacent, outside of the Reserve, with 366.76 km2. Despite the importance of this measure, an important part of the vaquita habitat is still left unprotected outside of the Reserve boundaries. Within the framework of the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, held in San Diego, California, USA; federal authorities, along with NGO representatives, the business sector and experts, dealt with the necessary measures to save the vaquita from extinction. WWF donated a file of classified unpublished photographs that examine the history of this porpoise, the fishermen and scientists that have contributed to its conservation; it was deposited at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. WWF and our partners prepared a strategy to save the vaquita and to promote the well-being of local fishermen communities: the Fund for Economic Compensation of Gillnet Fishing and the Promotion of Alternatives to Fisheries in the Upper Gulf of California. In the following years the efforts to save the vaquita will be focused on the implementation of this Fund for the voluntary purchase of the fishing rights with gillnets, including the implementation of a monitoring program, support to the surveillance, and economic alternatives for fishermen and their families.

• Reduction of turtle bycatch: In 2005, as part of a global program for the reduction of sea turtle bycatch in commercial fishery, we succeeded in having artisanal fishermen from southern Sinaloa use 2,500 circle hooks instead of those they usually employ, in which they incidentally trap these marine reptiles. After conducting a preliminary study, it was proven that these hooks reduce turtle bycatch without affecting fishermen’s target catch.
  
• Strengthening of local capacities: We have supported the consolidation of some organizations such as Conciencia y Educación Ambiental, A.C. (CEA), an NGO that specializes in the generation of a change in the attitude towards environmental conservation in childhood and youth.