Accumulation by Conservation : Conflicts between aquaculture, protected mangroves and small-scale fisheries in Marismas Nacionales, Mexico

Sammanfattning: Brackish water ecosystems such as mangroves are among the most biodiverse in the world. The mangroves located in the Gulf of California, Mexico are not an exception. This sea has been studied several times due to its biodiverse coastal ecosystems, one of these sites being “Marismas Nacionales” or National Marshes in the southeast area of the Gulf, which was the focus of the thesis. Local fishing communities have been present in the area since pre-Hispanic times and the area became recognized for their abundant oyster, shrimp, and finfish yields during the XX century. Overexploitation of fisheries in Mexico and national financial crisis opened the door to neoliberal policy and law reforms which affected directly and still affect the subsistence, economy and political power of the fishers in the area. Because of the neoliberal reforms, shrimp aquaculture became an important economic activity in and around the region of Marismas Nacionales by the end of the 1980s. By the 1990s international and national protection, instruments were implemented to revert the damages and pressures created by overexploited fishers, as well as by the new aquaculture practices introduced in the ecosystem, giving Marismas Nacionales the status of the biosphere reserve. The figure of biosphere reserve has reverted the damages in the ecosystem while preserving the communal land inside of it. Nevertheless, since the biosphere reserve does not cover the whole ecosystem, the political boundaries of the biosphere reserve have also been detrimental for the ecosystem and local fishers’ land tenure that remained outside of it, creating an inside/outside effect. The study was done considering the perspectives of the actors involved, mainly the fishers in the area through semi-structured interviews gathered using a snowball method, through second-hand sources collection and literature review. The analysis was done through the political ecology and political economy perspectives to examine the conflicts that were found. The neoliberal laws from the period between 1986 and 1992 have not stopped the depletion of fisheries in the Marismas Nacionales ecosystem. Additionally, with the combination of a lack of formal credit schemes leading to an exploitation by permit holders and middlemen; fishers, in particular, free fishers, in the Marismas Nacionales ecosystem have become vulnerable, as well as scapegoats for the shortcomings of the flawed policies. The most affected fishers inside Marismas Nacionales ecosystem where found outside the limits of the biosphere reserve, demonstrating the deficiencies of the biosphere reserve. Additionally, I claim that conservation instruments and areas around Mexico could potentially become part of a process of primitive accumulation which could end up in privatizing those areas as seen in other places around the world. Moreover, shrimp aquaculture seems to benefit from the conservation policies. Further research is advised in regulatory processes and conservation law schemes, as well as an accurate implementation in the Marismas Nacionales wetlands, that considers all those implicated.