Giuseppe
Emeritus
Mangroves in the Gulf of California increase fishery yields
Octavio Aburto-Oropeza*,?,?, Exequiel Ezcurra?, Gustavo Danemann?, V?ctor Valdez?, Jason Murray‖, and Enric Sala*,**
Author Affiliations
*Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0202;
?Departamento de Biolog?a Marina, Universidad Aut?noma de Baja California Sur, Carretera al Sur Km 5.5, La Paz, Baja California Sur, CP 23081, M?xico;
?San Diego Natural History Museum, P.O. Box 121390, San Diego, CA 92112-1390;
?Marine Conservation and Sustainable Fisheries Program, Pronatura Noroeste A.C., Calle D?cima No. 60, Zona Centro, Ensenada, Baja California, CP 22800, M?xico;
‖Department of Economics, Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29201; and
**Centre d'Estudis Avan?ats de Blanes, 17300 Blanes, Spain
Communicated by Rodolfo Dirzo, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, May 12, 2008 (received for review August 27, 2007)
Abstract
Mangroves are disappearing rapidly worldwide despite their well documented biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide.
Failure to link ecological processes and their societal benefits has favored highly destructive aquaculture and tourism developments that threaten mangroves and result in costly ?externalities.?
Specifically, the potentially irreparable damage to fisheries because of mangrove loss has been belittled and is greatly underestimated.
Here, we show that, in the Gulf of California, fisheries landings are positively related to the local abundance of mangroves and, in particular, to the productive area in the mangrove?water fringe that is used as nursery and/or feeding grounds by many commercial species.
Mangrove-related fish and crab species account for 32% of the small-scale fisheries landings in the region.
The annual economic median value of these fisheries is US $37,500 per hectare of mangrove fringe, falling within the higher end of values previously calculated worldwide for all mangrove services together.
The ten-year discounted value of one hectare of fringe is >300 times the official cost set by the Mexican government.
The destruction of mangroves has a strong economic impact on local fishing communities and on food production in the region.
Our valuation of the services provided by mangroves may prove useful in making appropriate decisions for a more efficient and sustainable use of wetlands.
Keywords: discounted values economic benefits ecosystem services small-scale fisheries Rhizophora fringe forest
Footnotes
?To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: maburto@ucsd.edu Author contributions: O.A.-O. and E.S. designed research; O.A.-O. and E.S. performed research; O.A.-O., E.E., and J.M. analyzed data; E.E. and V.V. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; and O.A.-O., E.E., and G.D. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0804601105/DCSupplemental.
Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.
? 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA
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http://www.pnas.org/content/105/30/10456.short?rss=1
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Octavio Aburto-Oropeza*,?,?, Exequiel Ezcurra?, Gustavo Danemann?, V?ctor Valdez?, Jason Murray‖, and Enric Sala*,**
Author Affiliations
*Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0202;
?Departamento de Biolog?a Marina, Universidad Aut?noma de Baja California Sur, Carretera al Sur Km 5.5, La Paz, Baja California Sur, CP 23081, M?xico;
?San Diego Natural History Museum, P.O. Box 121390, San Diego, CA 92112-1390;
?Marine Conservation and Sustainable Fisheries Program, Pronatura Noroeste A.C., Calle D?cima No. 60, Zona Centro, Ensenada, Baja California, CP 22800, M?xico;
‖Department of Economics, Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29201; and
**Centre d'Estudis Avan?ats de Blanes, 17300 Blanes, Spain
Communicated by Rodolfo Dirzo, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, May 12, 2008 (received for review August 27, 2007)
Abstract
Mangroves are disappearing rapidly worldwide despite their well documented biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide.
Failure to link ecological processes and their societal benefits has favored highly destructive aquaculture and tourism developments that threaten mangroves and result in costly ?externalities.?
Specifically, the potentially irreparable damage to fisheries because of mangrove loss has been belittled and is greatly underestimated.
Here, we show that, in the Gulf of California, fisheries landings are positively related to the local abundance of mangroves and, in particular, to the productive area in the mangrove?water fringe that is used as nursery and/or feeding grounds by many commercial species.
Mangrove-related fish and crab species account for 32% of the small-scale fisheries landings in the region.
The annual economic median value of these fisheries is US $37,500 per hectare of mangrove fringe, falling within the higher end of values previously calculated worldwide for all mangrove services together.
The ten-year discounted value of one hectare of fringe is >300 times the official cost set by the Mexican government.
The destruction of mangroves has a strong economic impact on local fishing communities and on food production in the region.
Our valuation of the services provided by mangroves may prove useful in making appropriate decisions for a more efficient and sustainable use of wetlands.
Keywords: discounted values economic benefits ecosystem services small-scale fisheries Rhizophora fringe forest
Footnotes
?To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: maburto@ucsd.edu Author contributions: O.A.-O. and E.S. designed research; O.A.-O. and E.S. performed research; O.A.-O., E.E., and J.M. analyzed data; E.E. and V.V. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; and O.A.-O., E.E., and G.D. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0804601105/DCSupplemental.
Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.
? 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA
-
http://www.pnas.org/content/105/30/10456.short?rss=1
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