This
study will document long-term coastal exploitation in the North Coast of
Quintana Roo through an interdisciplinary approach that integrates ecological,
historical, and archaeological data on coastal exploitation, together with
traditional fishers’ knowledge, collected through surveys. This perspective is
timely in Quintana Roo since overexploitation of coastal fisheries and
large-scale tourism has anthropized and disrupted the long-term relationship
local communities peoples had with the sea. 

Our results will be open-access in
an online repository and can provide guidelines for developing policies focused
on sustainably managing coastal fisheries and landscapes in the North Coast of
Quintana Roo. Our project will
bridge current and past coastal exploitation in the Yum Balam Natural Protected
Area, which harbors Isla Holbox and the Mesoamerican Coral Reef, although
ecotourism exists, large-scale tourism and increasing fishing effort represent future
regional threats. 

 Overall the increasing fishing effort and growing tourism
industry in the Yucatan Peninsula makes this kind of regional information
timely for the future welfare of coastal communities and their natural capital.

This study is funded by the Rufford Foundation

Collaborators

• Marcia Moreno-Baez, PhD
      mmorenobaez@ucsd.edu    MMB Google scholar profile 
• Jorge A. Herrera-Silveira, PhD
  Profesor Investigador Titular
  CINVESTAV-IPN, Unidad Mérida Carretera Antigua a Progreso km. 6
  Mérida Yuc. C.P. P7310