Emerging fisheries in subtropical coastal lagoons: Sphoeroides annulatus in Magdalena-Almejas Bay, BCS, Mexico (1998–2008)

• Coastal fleets fishing available alternative resources to improve economic performance.
• Sphoeroides annulatus is target species of an emerging fishery.
• Recently detected fishery.
• Foundations for the systematic study of this fishery were documented.
• Producers use a specific fishing gear locally called “chinchorro botetero”.

Fishing is an important economic activity in Baja California Sur that creates thousands of jobs and provides high-quality food. Magdalena-Almejas Bay is a highly productive region that contributes an annual average close to 50% of state catches. It is the center of various small-scale fisheries that include the marine species commonly known as “finfish”, for which information is scarce. To understand the operation of this multi-species fishery and its recent changes, operations of the coastal fleet were analyzed using a historical series of official capture landing reports for the period 1998–2008. Surveys were administered to fishers in order to record their local knowledge on aspects such as target species, associated species and bycatch, fishing gear currently used, and fishing seasons and areas. Primary (on-beach) buyers were surveyed to document the market. The information obtained revealed the existence of emerging fisheries, highlighting Sphoeroides annulatus (locally known as “botete diana”) that ranks fifth in relative importance based on volume captured, production value, and number of capture landing reports. Fishing operations were documented on fishing trips with producers who use specific fishing gear locally called “chinchorro botetero” (puffer seine net). Due to the lack of published information about this particular fishery, this work attempts to set a foundation for the systematic documentation of this fishery, recording biological aspects of the species, fishing gear used, catch techniques, initial preservation, the prices of fish sold on the beach, the marketing channel, the target market, seasonality, and spatial distribution of the fishery.