Mexico Case – Isla Natividad

In early 2006, the Sociedad Cooperativa de Producción Pesquera Buzos y Pescadores de Isla Natividad decided to close two blocks of its fishing concession as Fishery Refugees. The purpose was to evaluate the recovery of blue and yellow abalone fisheries; oceanographic conditions have been decimated due to climate change. After four years of studying the establishment of Natividad’s refuge, it has been found the abalone population has decreased dramatically in the fishing sites even when the cooperative has reduced the catch quota. While in the refuges, the populations have remained constant, and the abalone size structure has stabilized. This indicates that the refugees are proving to be larval nurseries in the face of the abrupt change in oceanographic conditions. In the front of these changes, the abalone fishery will not be able to do so without the refuges to sustain themselves for much longer.