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Towards a new shift in conservation and management of a fishery system and protected areas using bonefish (Albula vulpes) as an umbrella species in Belize and Mexico

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Abstract

Although bonefish, Albula vulpes, supports a culturally and socio-economically important recreational fishery in the Caribbean Sea, little is known about their population characteristics. Understanding their population parameters are important for the creation of a sustainable fishery strategy in the Caribbean region. We used multistate modeling to estimate apparent survival, recapture probability, and movement of bonefish in the regions of Corozal-Chetumal Bay (CB) and the adjacent Caribbean coast (CC) of Belize and Mexico. We marked 9657 bonefish and recaptured 613 (6.5% recapture rate). A total of 64 multistate models were run in program MARK. The model with the lowest Akaike Information Criterion was the most parsimonious model that supported our data: constant apparent survival in CC but variable in CB; time-dependent recapture probability in CC and CB; and time-dependent movement between regions. The latter reflects a seasonal migration from the bay to spawn in the Caribbean during the north-winds season. The seasonal differences in apparent survival (CC = 63.6% and CB = 80.6%) and recapture probability (CC = 1.3% and CB =11.1%) are associated to spawning mortality, a post-spawning relocation, ontogenetic shift, predation, angling activities, site fidelity or a combination of these. These findings reinforces the association of environmental variables influenced by weather patterns with movement patterns, the entire region to be considered a single geographic catchment area necessary to sustain a local bonefish population and the need for a paradigm shift from a traditional to a new system of fisheries conservation and management using bonefish as an umbrella species.

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Acknowledgements

Funding sources were the Mexican Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, via project No. 242558, and Bonefish & Tarpon Trust. We are thankful to fishers, guides (Omar Arceo, Jose Polanco, Geovanni Ortega, Rob Mukai), volunteers (Jon-Pierre Windsor, Felipe Martínez, Antonio Aguilar, Fernando Aguilar, Julio Cárdenas, Jason Maize, Rudy Castellanos, David González, Yasmin González, Norman Mercado, Axel Schmitter, Martha Valdez), fishing lodges (Omar Arceo Freelance Fishing, El Pescador Lodge and Villas, Costa de Cocos, Acocote Inn and Flats Fly-Fishing Guides Services) and Sarteneja Alliance for Conservation and Development. Special thanks to Janneth Padilla for the study area map. Thanks to the Ethics Committee of ECOSUR for revision of the research protocol and to the two anonymous reviewers of this manuscript. This paper is part of the first author’s Ph.D. dissertation. Fishing permits: PPF/DGOPA-053/15 in Mexico and 000008-16 in Belize, with additional authorization from the corresponding protected areas.

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  1. El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, A.P. 424, 77010, Chetumal, QR, Mexico

    Addiel U. Perez & Juan J. Schmitter-Soto

  2. Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, 2937 SW 27th Avenue, Suite 203, Miami, FL, 33133, USA

    Addiel U. Perez & Aaron J. Adams

  3. Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute 5600 IS-1, Fort Pierce, FL, 34946, USA

    Aaron J. Adams

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  1. Addiel U. Perez
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Correspondence to Addiel U. Perez.

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Perez, A.U., Schmitter-Soto, J.J. & Adams, A.J. Towards a new shift in conservation and management of a fishery system and protected areas using bonefish (Albula vulpes) as an umbrella species in Belize and Mexico. Environ Biol Fish 103, 1359–1370 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-020-01028-w

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