History and co-management of the artisanal mutton snapper (Lutjanus analis) spawning aggregation fishery at Gladden Spit, Belize, 1950–2011

• The history of the artisanal mutton snapper fishery at Gladden Spit is outlined.
• Landings persist after more than 60 years of artisanal fishing.
• Mutton snapper life-history strategies contrast other aggregating reef fishes.
• Fishery landings fluctuate with environmental and socioeconomic factors.
• Stakeholder involvement is core to adaptive co-management of Caribbean fisheries.

Since the 1950s, artisanal fishers from southern Belize have harvested mutton snapper (Lutjanus analis) from the Gladden Spit fish spawning aggregation site. In 2000, the Government of Belize partnered with stakeholders to conserve the area and co-manage the fishery. The objective of this study was to present the history of the artisanal mutton snapper fishery in its environmental and socioeconomic context and qualitatively evaluate its present status. We identified long-term trends in the fishing activity through historical catch reconstructions and estimation of fishing fleet size since the late 1980s, statistically compared inter-annual trends in catch per unit effort (CPUE) and in mutton snapper sizes between 1999 and 2011, and delineated possible factors that might have caused the observed patterns. Our data show a sharp reduction in total landings and fishing effort that started in the late 1980s, parallel to a rapid growth in the tourism industry and to a shift in the livelihoods of many fishers. Annual CPUE, individual sizes, and sex ratios have been relatively stable between 1999 and 2011, indicating persistence of the fishery during this recent period. Key to successful long-term, adaptive co-management of the fishery is a continued involvement of fishers and other stakeholders in resource monitoring and evaluation, as well as in policy and decision making.