FISHING AREAS: MAIN CHARACTERISTICS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The fishing areas of a country are the areas or regions dedicated to the exploitation of marine or aquaculture fishing. They are generally located on the coasts or coastlines and also in large rivers and lagoons rich in fish species.

These spaces are part of the territorial sea or the continental shelf; that is, the submarine continuation of a continent. They are often a source of conflict and rivalry between fishing countries and between fishermen from the same country.

The use of abundant fishing resources that are close to territorial waters permanently generates international lawsuits and litigation. These problems are more or less similar in all countries due to the invasion of territorial waters.

Mexico is one of the Latin American countries with the largest fishing areas, both due to its extensive coastlines on the Atlantic Ocean front and the Pacific Ocean. Consequently, it has not been without these problems.

What are fishing areas?

Fishing areas are those strips or regions of a country with the capacity for marine or aquaculture fishing, industrial or artisanal.

In the case of the maritime fishing area, it is an area that runs from the coast to 200 nautical miles (370 km), along which the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of a country is delimited. It is also called a patrimonial sea.

But there are also other freshwater aquaculture fishing areas, such as ponds, rivers and lakes, among others.

The organized exploitation of fishing for commercial purposes is known as a fishery. Its objective is to combine efforts to catch fish and other aquatic species for their commercialization and sale.

Other by-products are obtained from industrial fishing, such as fish flours and oils intended for human and animal consumption.

There are several examples of fishing areas and fisheries in the world: the salmon fishery in Alaska, the cod fishery in Norway, the tuna fishery in Japan or the Pacific, the hake fishery in the Atlantic Ocean or the shrimp in Peru.

Fisheries

Most of the fisheries are marine and are located near the coast for legal and economic reasons, precisely in the exclusive economic zone or fishing area of ​​the country.

But they also spread over the contiguous waters of the continental shelf, which are generally richer in marine fauna due to the availability of krill, phytoplankton and other nutrients.

Fisheries use an entire infrastructure to operate: personnel, fishing equipment, boats for catching fish and cellars for transporting fish.

They also use spaces and equipment for refrigeration and storage, for product processing, for packaging and transportation, and for distribution.

The capture method used by the fishmonger depends on the market to which it is directed. It can be trawling, longline, aquaculture, among others.

Common international fishing problems

Conflicts and problems derived from fishing are diverse and common to countries with great fishing potential.

Among the main complications are disputes between fleets of various nationalities that operate in fisheries in territorial waters of a country.

These problems occur more frequently between nations with territorial disputes, because the areas where they fish are claimed by both countries.

Likewise, conflicts are generated by the control and exploitation of common fishing areas or shared fisheries.

There are consumer countries with a long fishing tradition that are not satisfied with exploiting their fishing resources, but are also dedicated to exploiting other seas and foreign fishing areas and generate conflicts. Such is the case in Europe, Russia and Southeast Asia.

Many of these countries use fleets with "flags of convenience" from other countries to try to deceive the authorities and take advantage of the fishery resources of the country they enter.

Other actors that act illegally are companies from a certain country, which are dedicated to exploiting foreign fishing grounds and commercializing marine products in another nation.

Fishing conflict cases

An example of exploitation of fishing areas in an abusive way was the case of Namibia in the Atlantic. Its resources were used by fleets of the USSR and Spain, while the African nation received a meager compensation. After their independence, these fleets were expelled in 1986.

Disputes between Spanish flag swordfish fishing boats and the Chilean government are also known, which does not allow the use of its ports to unload their catches.

This has led to complaints from the European Union to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

But disputes over fishing spaces do not only arise between countries, but also between national actors dedicated to this industry.

Conflicts are frequent between small fishing fleets and other large fleets in the same country, as well as between fishermen engaged in wild fishing and those engaged in aquaculture activities.

An example of this type of confrontation was the one sustained by the shrimp fisheries in Mexico: the conflicts between cooperatives and large private companies in the states of Sinaloa and Sonora, generated in 1992 after the change of the Fishing Law.

Fishing areas of Mexico

As has already been said, Mexico has wide fishing areas due to the enormous extension of its coasts along the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.

The country has 11,000 km of coastline on both ocean fronts and 17 of its states have a coastline, not counting the additional 500,000 km² of continental shelf.

It is the fourth most important fishing country on the continent and the seventeenth in the world. The fishing areas of Mexico are divided into five regions:

Region I

It is the most important in the country. It covers the states of the Baja California peninsula and the continental shelves of Sonora and Sinaloa.

In this fishing region, tuna, mullet, shrimp, squid, sardines, sagasse, sea cucumber and anchovy are caught, among other species.

Region II

It includes the states of Nayarit and Chiapas, Colima, Michoacán and Guerrero, in whose coastal corridor a high volume of catches of species such as tuna, carp, mojarra, skipjack and red snapper are generated.

Region III

This region is made up of the states of Veracruz, Tamaulipas and Veracruz. It is the second most important Mexican region by the volume of catches.

The most outstanding species are the mojarra, the crab and the oyster. Additionally, in Tamaulipas high shipments of shrimp are caught, in addition to fish species.

Region IV

It includes the states of Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Campeche and Tabasco. In this region are the largest oil deposits in Mexico, whose exploitation produces high levels of pollution affecting fish production.

The most important species are the mojarra, the oyster, the shark, the dogfish and the octopus.

Region V

It is made up of all the states without a coastline whose production and fishing spaces are the product of aquaculture or breeding of aquatic species in ponds, lakes, rivers, lakes or dams and canals.

From here freshwater species such as trout, crappie, catfish, charales and carp are obtained, and other saltwater species such as lobster and shrimp.

References

1. Fishing in Mexico. Retrieved on January 29, 2018 from Bibliotecadigital.ilce.edu.mx
2. Carlos Ramírez Estrada, Anabel Quinero Marmol H. El Mar and its resources in the Pacific account. University of Colima. Recovered from books.google.co.ve
3. Miriam Juárez Torres, María de la Luz Flores Escobar and José de Luna Martínez. The fishing sector in Mexico (2007). Recovered from books.google.co.ve
4. Alejandro Vicchi. Deep-sea fishing as a source of international conflicts. Uces, 2010.
5. Agricultural and Fisheries Policy in Mexico, Recent Achievements Continuation of Reforms. Ocde. Recovered from books.google.co.ve
6. Fishing industry. Consulted of es.wikipedia.org