Improving Fisheries in Upper Gulf of California

Mexico is subject to an unprecedented set of international compliance processes related to governance of its small-scale fisheries in the Upper Gulf of California. To give one example, the Gulf of California is the only primarily marine protected area on the List of World Heritage in Danger. The entire Gulf was listed in 2019 due to “unsustainable illegal fishing practices” in the Upper Gulf, which threaten Mexico’s endemic vaquita porpoise with extinction. To remove the site from the In Danger List and to resolve other international sanctions, Mexico needs to improve its policy implementation. Our project is developing and expanding a traceability model which combines blockchain technology with womens’ community-based catch monitoring, and its integration will not only help Mexico meet its international obligations, but also serve as a model to develop a national traceability regulation for its other small- scale fisheries. We will also work with international and local technical experts to resolve policy gaps which are an obstacle to uptake of legal non-gillnet fishing gear in the Upper Gulf marine protected areas. Our traceability work and analyses in cooperation with Sustainable Fisheries Partnership will also aid the US, Mexico’s primary seafood import market, to improve automated fraud risk-flagging tools based on learning from known patterns of IUU imports.