Simulated response to harvesting strategies in an exploited ecosystem in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico

The impact of some optimized harvesting strategies on ecosystem structure was investigated using a mass-balanced model of the ecosystem in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, where there are four types of artisanal fisheries and a shrimp fishery that has collapsed. The Ecopath with Ecosim software was...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecological modelling 2004-03, Vol.172 (2), p.421-432
Main Authors: Arreguin-Sanchez, Francisco, Zetina-Rejón, Manuel, Manickchand-Heileman, Sherry, Ramı́rez-Rodrı́guez, Mauricio, Vidal, Laura
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ecosystem response
Gulf of Mexico
Harvesting strategies
Marine
Pisces
Shrimp collapse
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Summary:The impact of some optimized harvesting strategies on ecosystem structure was investigated using a mass-balanced model of the ecosystem in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, where there are four types of artisanal fisheries and a shrimp fishery that has collapsed. The Ecopath with Ecosim software was used to simulate harvesting strategies aimed at optimizing economic (profit), social (jobs), ecological (conservation of ecosystem structure) and shrimp-recovery criteria. As expected, the ecosystem changes that would ensue vary according to the combination of optimization goals. We found that for some scenarios, the extraction of biomass from a discrete trophic-level changes impacting ecosystem and catch structure. This was clearly observed through the tendency of the mean trophic level of the ecosystem and catch, as well as the fishing-in-balance index (FBI). A particular discussion was made about the collapsed shrimp fishery, where the impact of a specific shrimp-recovery strategy was evaluated. Collapse is strongly associated to physical variables and recovery based on trophic relationships is plausible but with a high ecosystem structure cost.
ISSN:0304-3800
1872-7026
DOI:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2003.09.016