The 8th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Common Property (IASCP) The Role of a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) in an Emerging Co-management Regime: The Mexican Seri Indians’ case study by Xavier Basurto, Luis Bourillón & Jorge Torre School of Renewable Natural Resources. The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
[email protected] Comunidad y Biodiversidad A.C. Terminación Bahía de Bacochibampo s/n Col. Lomas de Cortés Guaymas, Sonora. México 85450
[email protected] Bloomington, Indiana. USA May 30 to June 4, 2000 ABSTRACT In Mexico, many of the coastal ecosystems that have traditionally been used by local communities for small-scale fishing activities are near or, overexploited. Some important causes are: 1) absence of clearly defined fishing property rights, 2) diversity within fishing communities, 3) failure by governmental agencies to effectively support local community development, 4) low effectiveness of fishing regulatory tools designed by the government, and 5) lack of reliable biological data of fishing resources to guide their management. The Seri Indians, a seafaring tribe that has inhabited the central portion of the Gulf of California for thousands of years, offers a unique setting among Mexican small-scale fishing communities. After surviving several extermination wars by Spanish and Mexicans, the Mexican government granted them their own marine territory in 1975 to assure their survival and reduce potential conflicts with other Mexican communities. This territory includes a portion of coastal land, an island, and the coastal waters surrounding it. Only members of the Seri fishing cooperatives are authorized to extract marine resources from this area.