Small-scale fisheries in ecologically sensitive areas in Latin America and the Caribbean: Do marine protected areas benefit fisheries governance?

Many small-scale fisheries (SSFs) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) operate in ecologically sensitive areas, where balancing conservation and resource use is challenging. 'Multiple-use' marine protected areas (MPAs) have been implemented to accommodate SSFs (among other uses) within areas designated for conservation, creating opportunities and challenges for SSF governance. We analyzed eleven case studies from LAC to explore: (1) how different MPA institutional designs affect key aspects of SSF governance and (2) the links between these effects and the type of initiative that promoted MPA establishment (origin).

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Galapagos Islands' seafood system from consumers' perspectives.

The COVID-19 pandemic's early stages severely impacted global fisheries, particularly areas heavily reliant on imported food and tourism like the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. To contain the spread of the virus, a full lockdown was implemented. However, the collapse of the tourism industry precipitated the worst economic crisis in the history of this multiple-use marine protected area.

The Evolution of Polycentric Governance in the Galapagos Small-Scale Fishing Sector.

Addressing the multiple anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic factors affecting small-scale fisheries requires collaboration from diverse regions, geographical scales, and administrative levels in order to prevent a potential misfit between governance systems and the socio-ecological problems they address. While connecting actors and stakeholders is challenging, as they often hold opposing perceptions and goals, unveiling the network configurations of governance systems remains one effective way to explore collaborative alliances in light of the diverse drivers of change present in small-scale fishery systems. This study employed descriptive statistics, exponential random graph models (ERGMs), and qualitative data analysis to explore preferential attachments of new nodes to well-positioned nodes within the Galapagos small-scale fishery governance system network and the propensity of cross-sectoral reciprocity and cross-sectoral open triads formation in the network.

Fishing during the "new normality": social and economic changes in Galapagos small-scale fisheries due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unlabelled: The crisis caused by COVID-19 has profoundly affected human activities around the globe, and the Galapagos Islands are no exception. The impacts on this archipelago include the impairment of tourism and the loss of linkages with the Ecuadorian mainland, which has greatly impacted the local economy. The collapse of the local economy jeopardized livelihoods and food security, given that many impacts affected the food supply chain.

Human and climatic drivers affect spatial fishing patterns in a multiple-use marine protected area: The Galapagos Marine Reserve.

Assessments of the effectiveness of marine protected areas (MPAs) usually assume that fishing patterns change exclusively due to the implementation of an MPA. This assumption increases the risk of erroneous conclusions in assessing marine zoning, and consequently counter-productive management actions. Accordingly, it is important to understand how fishers respond to a combination of the implementation of no-take zones, and various climatic and human drivers of change.

A revised strategy for the monitoring and management of the galapagos sea cucumber Isostichopus fuscus (Aspidochirotida: Stichopodidae).

The brown sea cucumber fishery is active in the Galapagos Islands since the year 1991 after its collapse in mainland Ecuador. This paper analyzes the Galapagos Sea cucumber fishery over the past decade and the reasons for its management pitfalls and chronic over fishing, and proposes an improved strategy for estimating stock size and harvest potential. Based on the historical distribution of the fishing fleet and past fishery surveys, 15 macrozones were defined; their areas were estimated from the coastline to the 30m isobaths and the numbers of sample replicates per macrozone were calculated for a density estimate precision of +/-25%.