BREN SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & MANAGEMENT GROUP PROJECT PROPOSAL Title: Turning the tide on small-scale fisheries performance in Costa Rican Marine Areas of Responsible Fishing: Learning from failures to drive success. Proposers: Wagner Quiros Pereira, MESM 2017, (714) 831-7674, wquiros@umail.ucsb.edu Alexandra Smith, MESM 2017, (305) 984-6242, aedwards.smith@gmail.com Client: Rare through Nakul Saran, Vice-president, Fish Forever at Rare, nsaran@rare.org General objective: Evaluate the impact of government fisheries interventions and their effect over community managed small-scale fisheries (SSF) in the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica. Specific objectives: 1. Define the fisheries management challenges including trends, conditions and future expectations in the Gulf of Nicoya. 2. Evaluate the efficacy of current and past interventions, including subsidies, closures and community management (Marine Areas of Responsible Fishing (MARF s) to promote the recovery of fisheries stocks and stable livelihoods. 3. Explore several alternative scenarios to understand what the best approach to SSF management is in the Costa Rican context for the Gulf of Nicoya. Significance: The Gulf of Nicoya is one of the most prominent ecological and geographical systems in Costa Rica. Irrigated by the Tempisque River, the inner part of the Gulf holds important mangrove ecosystems, which serve as nurseries and spawning areas for many commercially important marine and estuary fish species (Wolff et al. 1998). At the same this Gulf is also the most important commercial and subsistence fishing area in Costa Rica, producing 27% of the country s annual landings (Estado de La Nación, 2013) and home to most of the approximately 11,000 small scale fishers (Proyecto Golfos 2013). Eight of the ten Areas of Marine Responsible Fishing of Costa Rica (MARF s) are also located in this Gulf (ANNEX 1). Primary fisheries are shrimp and finfish, such as red snapper and sea bass. The global conservation NGO Rare and the government of Costa Rica will be the main clients of this initiative. The Costa Rican Ambassador to the United States has approached Rare and its Fish Forever program for assistance in improving fisheries management in Costa Rica, specifically in the Gulf of Nicoya. The governmental partners in this effort will include several Costa Rican public institutions, including the Costa Rica Institute of Fisheries (INCOPESCA), the Costa Rica Ministry of Environment (MINAET) and the Coast Guard. Local fishing communities will also be a very important target audience. This project has the potential to have a national impact in Costa Rica and could become a Regional and International model for effective co-management of small scale fisheries, where government institutions work collaboratively with local communities to promote more sustainable fisheries management, enhanced ecosystems and more prosperous fishing communities.
The Costa Rica Vice-Ministry for Water, Seas, Coasts and Wetlands of Costa Rica, created in 2012 (Financiero 2012), is currently undertaking a new planning process to develop and implement a National Ocean Policy and National Strategy for the Management of the Coastal and Marine Resources of Costa Rica (PNUD, SINAC, GEF 2015). This project has the potential to help define more effective policies for this national effort and thereby help drive more effective fisheries management in Costa Rica. Background: The Gulf of Nicoya is a tectonic estuary of about 1530 Km 2 located on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica (Gocke et al. 2001). The Gulf is one of the largest in Central America and holds over 80 communities that are highly dependent on small-scale fisheries for both food and livelihoods. In 2013, a report from the BIOMARCC Project (Coastal and Marine Biodiversity and Climate Change Adaptation) showed that the combination of excessive fishing effort, illegal fishing gear, and lack of respect for minimum size limits has led to an overexploitation of the main fishing resources of the Gulf of Nicoya. If the overexploitation continues, it is estimated that by 2020 most target species will be collapsed (BIOMARCC- SINAC-GIZ 2013). The demise of these fisheries will significantly increase poverty and vulnerability of the Gulf of Nicoya communities. As described below, there have been several efforts to reverse these trends in the Gulf of Nicoya fisheries. Unfortunately, all of these efforts have been unsuccessful. Closure Program: Since 1985, there has been a 3-month fisheries closure in major areas of the Gulf. The objective was to recover overfished target species. After 30 years of intervention, reports from the INCOPESCA Technical and Development Department have shown that the closures have not achieved their goals (MarViva 2015). Subsidies program: In 2005, in response to dramatically reduced livelihoods for fishers during the seasonal closures, the government of Costa Rica (Executive Decree N 36043-MAG-SP-MS) provided fishers with cash payments during the fishing closures. The economic payments were intended to help fishers meet their basic needs with a temporary monthly payment equivalent to 40% of the minimum wage for an unskilled worker (Gaceta #115). The Costa Rica government has invested millions of dollars in administrative coordination of the closures and payment of subsidies (MarViva 2015), yet the environmental and socioeconomic situation has not improved. Marine Areas of Responsible Fishing (MARFs) In an effort to improve their local fisheries and livelihoods, community-fishing organizations from the Gulf of Nicoya sought to build on the success of spatial rights based approaches in other small scale fisheries around the world, commonly called TURFs (Territorial User Rights for Fisheries). They created Marine Areas of Responsible Fishing (MARF s) (Lozano & Heinen 2015) loosely based on the approach of TURF s. Local communities became responsible for management, but fisheries have not recovered. Project Objectives: Rare s Fish Forever program is effectively implementing a combination of TURFs and no take marine reserves in small scale fisheries in multiple countries around the world. The
TURFs create financial incentives for local communities to manage for long term sustainability, and the marine reserves provide a range of fisheries and conservation benefits that enhance the success of the TURFs. Given these successes, and the successes of other TURF systems, the failure of MARFs in Costa Rica poses several important questions. Is the failure of MARFs a result of poor design (e.g., are they too small) relative to the lessons from TURFs in other settings? Is the failure of MARFs due to continued overexploitation in the surrounding waters of the Gulf of Nicoya? Is the failure of MARFs due to continued illegal fishing, perhaps as a result of the lost revenues in fisheries in the areas with seasonal closures or the inadequate subsidies? Although numerous studies have compiled data on the status of these fisheries, there have been no systematic biological and economic analyses designed to identify the causes of continued declines in the fisheries or to identify effective solutions. This project aims to examine these hypotheses with empirical analyses and bioeconomic modeling to identify paths to future success that Rare and the government of Costa Rica can use to drive more effective reforms. Available data and possible approaches The Gulf of Nicoya is one of the best-known tropical estuaries in the world with hundreds of scientific articles and governmental and academic research grey reports. For this specific project, data related to Costa Rican subsidies programs will be accessible through IMAS (publically available) and INCOPESCA. Fisheries data will be available thorough the INCOPESCA Technical and Development Department and their database (INCOBASE). The support from the Universidad Nacional of Heredia and the Embassy of Costa Rica in the United States, plus a good relationship by members and advisors of the project Wagner Quirós and Juliana Herrera with governmental and NGO officials, makes us confident data gaps would be minimize as being a project of national interest. We will compile and analyze data from the 1985-2015 fisheries closures to evaluate their effects on the status of small-scale fisheries. We will also explore how the implementation of subsidies from 2003 to 2015 has influenced the success of the fisheries and the socioeconomic state of local communities. The project will integrate biological and economic analyses for the first time and compare the results to theoretical expectations for rights based fisheries with different designs. We will build on these bio-economic models to explore opportunities for solutions based upon different scenarios of spatial closures, economic subsidies and enforcement. We will also explore with collaboration of the Ocean Health Index Project how this framework could help track success. Deliverables: A Project Report (written products in English and Spanish) that identify the primary challenges and the potential solutions for fisheries interventions in the Gulf of Nicoya. An empirically based design tool that allows managers and stakeholders to explore the likely consequences of different intervention scenarios. Internships: Nakul Saran Vice President of fish Forever, Rare, has expressed his commitment to sponsor one internship (ANNEX II Support Letter) likely based in different settings to enhance the impact of the project in Costa Rica, at Rare s headquarters in Arlington VA, and in other Fish Forever countries where effective TURF-Reserve systems have been implemented.
References: Alpízar, M. A. Q. (2006). Participation and fisheries management in Costa Rica: from theory to practice. Marine Policy, 30(6), 641-650. Blanco Brenes, O., & Mata Jiménez, A. (1994). La cuenca del Golfo de Nicoya: un reto al desarrollo sostenible. San José: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica. BIOMARCC-SINAC-GIZ. 2013. Evaluación de las pesquerías en la zona media y externa del Golfo de Nicoya, Costa Rica. San José.-Costa Rica. 54 pags. El Financiero. Minaet crea nuevo viceministerio de Mares y Agua.. [Internet]. [cited 2016, Jan 10]. Available from: http://wvw.elfinancierocr.com/ef_archivo/2012/junio/17/economia3210850.html Fundación Marviva. Casi 30 años después: Veda anual en el Golfo de Nicoya no ha dado resultados [Internet]. [cited 2016, Jan 10]. Available from: http://marviva.net/index.php/es/consumoresponsable/10-noticias/archivo-de-notas/406-casi-30- anos-despues-veda-anual-en-el-golfo-de-nicoya-no-ha-dado-resultados Gocke, K., Cortés, J., & Murillo, M. M. (2001). The annual cycle of primary productivity in a tropical estuary: the inner regions of the Golfo de Nicoya, Costa Rica. Revista de biología tropical, 49, 289-306. Instituto Mixto de Ayuda Social (IMAS). Inversión en la veda asciende a 803 millones. [Internet]. [cited 2016, Jan 10]. Available from: http://www.imas.go.cr/prensa/comunicados/01 CP 04-14-2015 Inversion en la veda Golfo de Nicoya.html INCOPESCA. (2010). Evaluación de los recursos pesqueros post-veda 2009 en el interior del Golfo de Nicoya. Departamento de Investigación y Desarrollo, Instituto Costarricense de Pesca y Acuacultura. Costa Rica. Pp. LA GACETA No. 115. Regulaciones permanentes para la implementación de una ayuda temporal por pobreza coyuntural en el sector pesquero costarricense por declaratorias de vedas. N 36043- MAG-SP-MS del 15 de junio de 2010. Lozano, A. J. G., & Heinen, J. T. 2015. Identifying Drivers of Collective Action for the Comanagement of Coastal Marine Fisheries in the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica. Environmental management, 1-11. Marín, B., & Vásquez A. 2014. Informe especial acerca de los resultados de los muestreos biológicos realizados en siete comunidades del interior del Golfo de Nicoya durante los meses de octubre 2013 y marzo 2014. Departamento de investigación y desarrollo del INCOPESCA. Pp.29. OSPESCA, 2012. Encuesta Estructural de la Pesca Artesanal y la Acuicultura en Centroamérica 2009-2011, 76 páginas. PIMA-INCOPESCA-FAO. 2014. Terminal Pesquera en el Barrio del Carmen, Puntarenas. Pp. 20. Proyecto Golfos, 2013. Estado del Área Marina de Uso Múltiple Pacífico Sur. Costa Rica. 83 pags.
Presidencia de la República de Costa Rica. Más de 800 millones en subsidios para pescadores artesanales. [Internet]. [cited 2016, Jan 10]. Available from: http://presidencia.go.cr/prensa/comunicados/mas-de- 800-millones-en-subsidios-para-pescadoresartesanales/ Programa Estado de la Nación. (2013). Decimonoveno Informe Estado de la Nación en Desarrollo Humano Sostenible. Pp. Rivera, V. S., Borrás, M. F., Gallardo, D. B., Ochoa, M., Castañeda, E., & Castillo, G. (2012). Estudio regional sobre las dimensiones sociales en el manejo de áreas marinas protegidas: casos en Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras y Panamá. Vargas, J. A. (1995). The Gulf of Nicoya estuary, Costa Rica: past, present, and future cooperative research. Helgoländer Meeresuntersuchungen, 49(1-4), 821-8 Wolff, M., Koch, V., Chavarria, J. B., & Vargas, J. A. 1998. A trophic flow model of the Golfo de Nicoya, Costa Rica. Revista de biología tropical, 46, 63-80.
ANNEX I. The Gulf of Nicoya, Marine Areas of Responsible Fishing, Marine Protected Areas and Wetlands.
ANNEX II. Client Support Letter.