AUTHOR=Bojórquez-Tapia Luis A. , Ponce-Díaz Germán , Pedroza-Páez Daniela , Díaz-de-León Antonio J. , Arreguín-Sánchez Francisco 

TITLE=Application of Exploratory Modeling in Support of Transdisciplinary Inquiry: Regulation of Fishing Bycatch of Loggerhead Sea Turtles in Gulf of Ulloa, Mexico

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Marine Science

VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.643347

DOI=10.3389/fmars.2021.643347

ISSN=2296-7745

ABSTRACT=The fishing bycatch of the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) epitomizes the challenges of designing fisheries management strategies to protect highly migratory, endangered species. We present here the case of turtle bycatch in Gulf of Ulloa, Mexico, in which conservation advocacy groups requested the United States Government to apply the legal provisions for preventing fishing bycatch of protected living marine resources (PLMR). Because these provisions implied the possibility of trade sanctions, the Mexican government had to devise policies equivalent to those imposed on the United States´ fleet. While conservation advocacy groups claimed that the effect of fishing bycatch was proven, the federal fisheries agency disregarded the facts for political reasons. Evidently, there was a need for a practical approach to address this highly contested policy-making problem characterized by limited data, deep uncertainties, and urgency for results. Our goal here is to present the implementation of an exploratory modeling rationale to tackle this sort of complex socio-ecological technological problems. We combined ecological threshold analysis and area oriented multiple-use framework to evaluate a wide range of plausible scenarios consistent with the available data. Results identified the bycatch level that indicated a potential critical transition to a low resilience state of the loggerhead population, and an alternating multiple-use management scheme. Our findings constituted the backbone of regulations aimed to set a bycatch cap and a refuge area for the loggerhead population in the region.