Exploration of harvesting strategies for the management of a Mexican coastal lagoon fishery

Huizache–Caimanero is a tropical brackishwater lagoon in western Mexico where there has been an important shrimp fishery for a long time. Four other, less important fish groups in this ecosystem are also exploited. We use a previously constructed Ecopath model to explore harvesting strategies for multispecies management. Changes in fishing mortality were simulated using the search for optimum strategies implemented in Ecopath with Ecosim. Simulations covering a period of 30 years were run. Several scenarios were tested in which fishing rates were changed to optimize ecological, economical, and social criteria. The biomass of each group, catches, and values of economic, social, and ecological indicators were compared between scenarios. In general terms, scenarios considering economic and social criteria produced high fishing rates that would cause the depletion of several groups. When an ecological criterion was considered, the impact on biomass was reduced due to a conservative fishing strategy. We discuss about effects of input parameters in the searching routine.