Non-linear response of catch rates to increasing salinity levels in a small-scale fishery

Bibliographic Data

ID15544700
AuthorsAndrés Vargas (0000-0002-8642-6154, Universidad del Norte, corresponding author), Dania Diaz (0000-0001-5312-4099, Universidad del Norte), David Diaz (0000-0001-7149-0535), S Restrepo (0000-0001-9583-5155, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana)
Year2025
Volume20
Issue10
Pages104076-104076
Publication date2025-09-19
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironmental Research Letters (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326
PublisherIOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1088/1748-9326/ae0952
OpenAlexW4414362895
LanguageEN
References cited34

Gear and catch diversification can provide natural insurance to fishers by stabilising catch rates, thanks to the differential response of fish species to varying environmental conditions. The effectiveness of diversification, however, may be diminished if there is a threshold above which compensatory changes are weakened and species abundance tends to move in the same direction. We analyse this hypothesis using data from an open-access artisanal fishery in an estuarine ecosystem, located in a Colombian Biosphere. Reserve. We find evidence of a threshold in salinity levels in the 25–30 g kg −1 range for most gears employed in the fishery. Below the threshold, catch diversification stabilises the mean catch rate, but above it, catch rates decline. The evidence of a threshold defining a high salinity conditions regime calls for the adoption of adaptive fishery management strategies, as well as social protection mechanisms for vulnerable fishers

Abundance (ecology · Diversification (marketing strategy · Estuary · Fish · Range (aeronautics · Salinity · Fish Ecology and Management Studies · Marine and fisheries research · Marine Bivalve and Aquaculture Studies

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