Compliance with Existing Fisheries Regulations Yields Ecological Benefits for the Northern Gulf of California

Mounting conservation concerns in the Northern Gulf of California have prompted researchers to propose new management regulations restricting fishing and protecting sensitive species.  Unfortunately, compliance with even existing regulations is poor.  Rules that are currently in place, if followed, may go a long way towards achieving the ecological and socioeconomic goals of management.  We conduct a review of existing fisheries regulations in this area.  Then, using Atlantis - a spatially explicit marine ecosystem model, we estimate the benefits of compliance with existing fisheries regulations.  Under a full compliance scenario, we find large increases in protected species biomass within 25 years and a slowed rate of ecosystem degradation due to fishing.  However, full compliance costs the fishing industry about 30% of its annual revenue, with greatest losses occurring in the offshore pelagic gillnet fleet.  We parse out the benefits offered by various management instruments (including spatial management protections, seasonal fishery closures, gear restrictions, cessation of illegal fishing, and vessel buy-out programs) and conclude that a suite of measures is needed to address major conservation objectives.  This exercise quantifies the costs and benefits of improved enforcement, and provides a benchmark by which the value of future regulatory amendments can be assessed.