Marine and Fisheries Policies in Latin America

A Comparison of Selected Countries

Manuel Ruiz Muller, Rodrigo Oyanedel, Bruno Monteferri

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9780429761225
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Environmental Law
• Index: Law

This book reviews the frameworks and implementation of marine, fishery and coastal laws and policies in Chile, Mexico and Peru.

Chile, Mexico and Peru share biodiverse coastal and marine environments which are being affected by unregulated and informal developments, and thus share similar challenges. Each country is currently at a different stage of advancement in their institutional response to these complex challenges. By providing a comparison of the frameworks, approaches and overall implementation of policies and laws, this book acts as a tool to influence and inform further efforts in conservation and sustainable use of marine resources, particularly fisheries, in these countries and others in Latin America and the Caribbean. A broad range of issues are covered including food security, tourism, fisheries, oil and mineral extraction from the seabed, wind power, coastal and marine pollution and endangered species conservation. The chapters compare how each country addresses these issues from an institutional, legal and policy perspective. The book concludes by identifying common lessons, reoccurring challenges and develops scalable recommendations applicable to the case study countries and the wider region.

The book will be of interest to advanced students, policy makers and researchers in marine and fishery science, law and policy.

1 Marine, coastal and fisheries issues in Chile, Mexico and Peru

An initial institutional and policy review

Bruno Monteferri and Manuel Ruiz Muller

Introduction

What do Chile, Mexico and Peru share with regard to their marine and coastal realities and fisheries and their relevant institutional and legal architectures? This chapter explores some common elements that marine and coastal areas and fisheries of these three countries have and the legal and institutional challenges they face for their sustainable development.

Chile, Mexico and Peru have large extensions of coastlines (Chile 6,400 km, Peru 3,100 km and Mexico 11,200 km approximately) and seas (120,000 km² Chile, 1,140,000 km² Peru and 231,800 km² Mexico, approximately). They share a historic tradition of use and occupation of coastal areas, with important urban centers developing rapidly on their shores. These areas contribute significantly to their economies including through small- and large-scale exploitation of fisheries, the presence of a massive off-shore oil industry in Mexico and to a lesser extent Peru and increasingly multifaceted and growing tourism activity in marine and coastal spaces. A large share of urban populations is concentrated on the coastal zones of these countries, especially in Chile and Peru.

These interrelated land and marine areas are equally critical from an ecologic point of view and the services they provide at local, national and global levels. The Humboldt (cold) and Niño (warm) currents that converge in the north of Peru and south of Ecuador are causing climate events with global repercussions. The presence of a type of plankton in marine zones in Chile and Peru makes their seas particularly rich for pelagic fishing. The potential of this resource is still being explored in laboratory conditions (Adiba, et al., 2013). Tourism directed towards the coasts is also growing with large-scale tourist centers and enclaves in each country, mainly Mexico (i.e. Acapulco, Cancun). Even sports such as surfing, wind surfing, underwater spearfishing and body boarding, among others, have grown exponentially over the last two decades and have become an economic support for many local communities in the three countries (Thomas, 2014).

Although archeological evidence shows that fisheries in these countries have been locally relevant long before the Inca, Maya and Aztec periods, it was from the middle of the twentieth century that industrialization gained national and international importance in trade flows (Mann, 2006), and it is only recently that the national political, institutional and legal agendas began to reflect concern for the viability of fisheries in these countries in general, given the intensification in activities.

In the context of marine and coastal zones and the seas, these national agendas in Chile, Mexico and Peru mirror growing international concern for the state of these spaces. In terms of conservation and sustainability, the last two decades, more or less, have seen a sudden reaction from the national and international community concerning the accumulated problems of fisheries overexploitation, coastal pollution, unplanned development of marine and coastal spaces and the effects of climate change on the seas, among others. The Brundtland Report of 1980 marked a milestone in this regard, by calling attention to the state of the global environment around the world (including the oceans) from a multi-sectorial and multidisciplinary approach.¹

As a result, a number of international conventions (in some cases regional agreements) have been developed and present complex legal architectures that seek to protect ecosystems and marine and coastal species, as well as to prohibit and regulate conducts that are harmful for the marine environment. These conducts include waste disposal, transport of dangerous substances, migratory species, bycatch, etc.²

In this context, Chile, Mexico and Peru have privileged coasts and seas which face similar challenges. A look into their realities may offer alternatives and responses potentially scalable to similar realities in each country and beyond. This chapter attempts to identify these challenges and present a few notable examples of legal, policy and institutional experiences and constructs from each country, targeted at sustainably conserving and developing adjacent coasts and seas, as well as fisheries.

Some socioeconomic and environmental achievements

When analyzed quantitatively, the importance of coastal and marine areas and fisheries in Chile, Mexico and Peru is self-evident. Chile is a coastal country due to its geography. The capital Santiago de Chile, less than 120 km away from the Pacific Ocean, concentrates 40 percent of the country’s population that amounts to 17.3 million.³ In the case of Mexico, it is estimated that more than 50 million people live in coastal states. This represents approximately 40 percent of the total population of Mexico.⁴ At least 60 percent of the population in Peru lives in large cities on the strip of land along the Pacific. Lima alone, the capital, has 10 million inhabitants, 30 percent of the country’s population.⁵ The tendency is growing and the phenomenon of populations concentrating in coastline cities is global (Creel, 2003).

All this inevitably implies a direct effect and continuous pressure on the environments and marine and coastal areas of these countries. The impacts from this concentration of population are expressed in numerous ways, from the disposal of wastewater and debris from urban centers into the sea, to the effects of coastal edge infrastructure developments (i.e. piers, housing, highways) on marine biodiversity.

Fisheries for their part are a major contribution to the socioeconomic well-being of Chilean, Mexican and Peruvian societies and to food security for hundreds of thousands of people in local areas. These fisheries, both small/artisanal and industrial, have developed differently in each country. In general terms and concerning catch volumes Chile occupies sixth place in the world, Peru fourth and Mexico sixteenth.⁶ Around these numbers there are certainly significant nuances that vary year to year. For example, historically Peru has the largest fishery of a single species on the planet, Peruvian anchoveta (Engraulis ringens), mainly used to produce fishmeal and fish oil and is the first worldwide producer. This fishery alone represents nearly 10 percent of catches of all the worlds’ fisheries (Heck, 2015).

On the other hand, the population that depends directly and indirectly on fishing and associated activities (i.e. repair services for vessels, restaurants, boat owners, etc.) is equally important. In broad terms, fisheries activities generate 350,000 direct jobs and 2,000 indirect ones in Mexico⁷; 200,000 direct and 800,000 indirect in Peru⁸; while in Chile, 90,000 workers are employed directly and 95,000 indirectly. Despite this, fisheries contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) continue to be relatively low. In Peru, this contribution fluctuates between 1.5 percent and 2 percent (SNP, 2017); in Mexico the contribution is 0.3 percent (GBC, 2013) while in Chile it reaches 0.4 percent (AQUA, 2019). In general, these are relative low figures when contrasted against contribution to employment and food security.

In addition to this quantitative overview, the value of marine-coastal zones has yet to be calculated in terms of ecosystem services from natural infrastructure and the non-consumptive or material benefits they provide through contemplation, and spiritual, recreational and aesthetic values (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2003). In this respect, Chile, Mexico and Peru have a cultural wealth yet to be enjoyed and benefitted from sustainably.

Legal and policy frameworks

Just as Chile has a National Policy for the Use of the Coastal Border,⁹ Peru approved its Guidelines on Integrated Coastal Zone Management,¹⁰ which are in essence, public policies that seek to give these spaces a sustainable treatment. Mexico does not have a general and comprehensive policy or legal framework for its marine and coastal zones but does have focalized policies for specific fisheries and their management. For Chile, Mexico and Peru, infrastructure development, exploitation of non-renewable resources, waste disposal and marine protected areas, among others, as well as fisheries in particular, are governed by specific and sectorial legislation which entails a complex web of interrelations, overlaps and, sometimes, conflicts of competences at different government levels (i.e. central or federal government, municipalities, specialized units, etc.). In other words, the creation and management of marine and coastal protected areas is governed by legislation on protected areas, infrastructure development responds to relevant legislation (i.e. development of roads and highways, or ports and piers, or urban development in general), waste disposal is regulated by an environmental or industrial framework, and so forth. Inter-sectorial coordination among the different levels of government to implement the National Policy in Chile and the Guidelines in Peru, continues to be a challenge and pending matter.

Although there is not a comprehensive and systematic policy or law to address or integrate the different dimensions of fisheries with marine and coastal related issues, it is important to emphasize that in the biodiversity strategies and action plans of Chile, Mexico and Peru, references to biodiversity conservation and marine and coastal ecosystems have been made either at the species or ecosystem levels. These policy instruments are an important, albeit often overlooked, references to inform both regulatory actions as well as specific interventions in these areas. For example, Chile has developed a National Biodiversity Strategy 2017–2030 (2016) that includes a detailed assessment on the situation of marine and coastal ecosystems and oceanic islands; it proposes measures to integrate marine biodiversity in sectorial policies, plans and programs and develops a thematic approach to marine biodiversity and islands.¹¹ In the case of Mexico, the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan 2016–2030 (2016)¹² also has explicit references and actions aimed at restoring vulnerable marine and coastal ecosystems; ensuring the continuity of ecosystem biogeochemical processes in infrastructure planning in coastal and island areas, and generating incentives for community participation in the restoration of marine-coastal ecosystems in terms of their environmental services. Finally, in the case of Peru, the National Strategy for Biological Diversity 2021 and Action Plan 2014–2018,¹³ does not include major references to marine and coastal areas, except with regards to the need of establishing a typ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Notes on contributors
• Foreword
• Prologue
• Introduction
• 1 Marine, coastal and fisheries issues in Chile, Mexico and Peru: an initial institutional and policy review
• 2 Industrial fisheries in Latin America: challenges and lessons from Chile, Mexico and Peru
• 3 Marine bioprospecting
• 4 Illegal fishing and non-compliance
• 5 Extractive industries in coastal and marine zones
• 6 Marine protected areas
• 7 Marine and coastal planning
• 8 From customary law to the implementation of safeguard measures: the case of “Marine and Coastal Areas for Indigenous Peoples” in Chile
• 9 Protection of migratory marine species
• 10 Prevention of marine pollution from litter in Peru
• 11 Collective action spaces and transformations in the governance of fisheries resources: towards democratic and deliberative management
• 12 The legal protection of surf breaks: an option for conservation and development
• Epilogue
• Index