Sustainable fishing includes the socioeconomic status of fishers. We combined empirical quality of life (QOL) and subjective lived experiences methods to explore the social sustainability of artisanal fishers in five fishery collectives along the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, where the average daily income is slightly above the poverty level. The QOL scores were also related to annual catch and incomes within each collective. A QOL index is used in this study that combines importance and achievement ratings scores; the results are indicative of an acceptable QOL for fishermen. The concept of lived experiences, incorporating aspects of life relating to Mind, Body, Work and People was explored through interviews with 12 fishers. The QOL data revealed that family and friends are important indicators related to positive QOL reported by the sample, while economic indicators were not important. Although four of the five collectives perceived that the future looks worse than the present and past, there was limited correlation between catch or income and QOL. However, while the lived experiences exercise in part supported the QOL findings, in that People was the most important dimension for almost all of the fishers interviewed, negative economic gaps related to poor catches and incomes were prevalent in the Mind and Work dimensions. The findings suggest that to understand the socioeconomic component of sustainable fisheries, both of these approaches should be considered, as they can illuminate different aspects of fishers’ lives that need to be considered during the development of fisheries’ management policies.

Protected natural areas have faced common challenges to achieve their conservation objectives. The resulting conflicts from their implementation and management over time call for greater community participation. In order to identify these problems related to social participation in Latin America and to the proposals to incentivize it in favor of conservation, a systematic review of 30 scientific documents was carried out on the multidisciplinary databases from Web of Science. The priority problems identified were limited participation in decision-making, few opportunities regarding other economic alternatives and political factors. The analyzed papers expose the exclusion that local communities have suffered in decision-making and in management processes, as well as the few initiatives for natural protected areas that allow their participation. No relevant measures were found to encourage community participation, except for ecotourism projects and proposals for changes in management plans to consider the biocultural aspects.

Despite the protection status of the marine area in Los Arcos, it has experienced reef deterioration associated with tourism activities. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze SCUBA divers’ impacts by quantifying and typifying their contact with the seabed, and to determine if the diving leader’s performance is related to the behavior of the divers being guided. The number and type of impacts on the seabed were counted and categorized as intentional and non-intentional. A total of 9811 contacts were made by 101 divers. The highest frequency type of non-intentional contact identified was “lifting sediment”, following by non-intentional—fins. The “hands” intentional contact type was found to occur most often. The highest frequency of total contacts per diver was “very high” (31.7%). By analyzing the profile of the divers related to their certification level, number of dives, SCUBA center attended, and leader, it was possible to establish a relationship between the number of contacts made by the leader and the number of contacts made by the divers guided by each leader. Our findings suggest the need for a joint approach of key players toward good practices to highlight the important role of diving leaders on their clients’ behavior, and thus preserve the ecological and aesthetic qualities of the dive site.

Shallow submarine hydrothermal vent systems assume differentiated environmental conditions. Some specimens of Branchiostoma californiense were found in the sediments of the influence area of the shallow hydrothermal venting in Punta Mita. This is the only lancelet species registered for the Mexican Pacific. The meristic and morphometric characteristics of the organisms first collected in unconsolidated sediments of this shallow system were reviewed, in order to determine the species. We confirm that it is the same species. This represents the first record of it for both the Banderas bay and in the influence area of a shallow hydrothermal system.

Capacidad de carga turistica de la Playa Punta Perula y Playa Isla Cocinas como estrategia para un uso turistico sustentable

The Centro de Ciencias de la Atmósfera at UNAM, in Mexico, uses the Water Research and Forecasting model to provide weather forecasts to the country. In this study, we downloaded the mean temperature and precipitation forecasts of the first 24 h generated by the WRF model in the center of the country. Only the time series of our study region (Bahía de Banderas) was processed from this database, from June to October 2010, and these data were compared with the data recorded in six stations to evaluate the performance of the model at a local level. Data from 12 stations were used to construct the observed temperature and precipitation maps for spatial validation. The results show that the model performance was partially acceptable. The correlation coefficient for hourly temperatures was an average of $r=0.84$. Errors were less than $2 °\mathrm{C}$ with a BIAS of $\pm 1 °\mathrm{C}$. For the accumulated 24 h precipitation, however, the results were not satisfactory $\left(r=0.26\right)$. The model predicted only 25.7% of the rainy days observed. In terms of spatial distribution, $~2.3$ times more rain was observed than had been predicted by the model.