NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-556 NOAA Series on U.S. Caribbean Fishing Communities Entangled Communities: Socioeconomic Profiles of Fishers, their Communities and their Responses to Marine Protective Measures in Puerto Rico (Volume 2: Regional Profiles) By Aguirre International Inc. David Griffith East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina Manuel Valdés Pizzini University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico Carlos García Quijano University of Puerto Rico, Cayey, Puerto Rico Edited by J. J. Agar and B. Stoffle Social Science Research Group Southeast Fisheries Science Center NOAA Fisheries Miami, Florida 33149 May 2007 NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-556 NOAA Series on U.S. Caribbean Fishing Communities Entangled Communities: Socioeconomic Profiles of Fishers, their Communities and their Responses to Marine Protective Measures in Puerto Rico (Volume 2: Regional Profiles) Aguirre International Inc. David Griffith Manuel Valdés Pizzini Carlos García Quijano With the Research, Technical, and Administrative Assistance of Walter Diaz Gisela Zapata William Calderón Marla del Pilar Pérez-Lugo Roger Rasnake Marielba Rivera-Velázquez U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Carlos M. Gutierrez, Secretary NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION Conrad C. Lautenbacker Jr., Undersecretary for Oceans and Atmosphere NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE William T. Hogarth, Director May 2007 This Technical Memorandum series is used for documentation and timely communication of preliminary results, interim reports, or similar special-purpose information. Although the memoranda are not subject to complete formal review, editorial control, or detailed editing, they are expected to reflect sound professional work. ii NOTICE The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) does not approve, recommend or endorse any proprietary product or material mentioned in this publication. No reference shall be made to NMFS or to this publication furnished by NMFS, in any advertising or sales promotion which would imply that NMFS approves, recommends, or endorses any proprietary product or proprietary material mentioned herein which has as its purpose any intent to cause directly or indirectly the advertised product to be used or purchased because of this NMFS publication. Data and research for this study were contracted to Aguirre International Inc. by the Southeast Fisheries Science Center, NMFS. The NMFS is not responsible for the contents or conclusions of this report. This report should be cited as follows: Griffith, D., M. Valdés Pizzini and C. García Quijano., 2007. Entangled Communities: Socioeconomic Profiles of Fishers, their Communities, and their Responses to Marine Protective Measures in Puerto Rico. NOAA Series on U.S. Caribbean Fishing Communities. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-556, 524 p. Agar, J. J. and B. Stoffle (editors) This report will be posted on the SEFSC web site at URL: http:// www.sefsc.noaa.gov/ Copies may be obtained by writing: National Technical Information Center 5825 Port Royal Road Springfield, VA 22161 (800) 553-6847 or (703) 605- 6000 http://www.ntis.gov/numbers.htm iii Regional Profiles We have ordered the regional profiles in this section with an eye toward describing the variety we find within Puerto Rico’s fisheries as well as prioritizing the profiles, loosely, on the basis of dependence. For example, both the landings data and the dependency scores presented in table IV.2 place locations in Cabo Rojo and Lajas at the top of the lists regarding total landings and extent of dependence. Thus we begin the regional profiles with the Southwest Region that includes these two municipalities. From there, however, we move to the northeastern region because they too rank high in terms of landings and dependency scores, because they represent fisheries that have witnessed growing integration between commercial fishing and tourism (Fajardo), and because they include the two island municipalities of Vieques and Culebra. In the order below, we follow the northeastern profile with the remaining eleven regions, each of which is somewhat distinctive: Western Metro Region: Mayagüez, Añasco, Rincón: Another productive region, including the large science and education center of Mayagüez and the innovative fishers of Rincón, the Western Metro region represents fisheries that have been heavily influenced by their proximity to marine science and the University of Puerto Rico Sea Grant College Program. Northwest Region: Aguada and Aguadilla: This region includes one of the most well organized and powerful Villas Pesqueras in Puerto Rico, and is home to an artisanal boat building operation that supplies vessels to many west coast and north coast fishers. Southern Metro: Ponce and Juana Díaz: This region includes Ponce, where its La Playa Association has maintained and chronicled its history and identity in monuments along its shore and the Association at La Guancha has been innovative in taking advantage of the voluminous tourist trade that visits the neighboring beaches and park every weekend. Eastern Region: Naguabo, Humacao, Yabucoa, Maunabo: Stretching from Naguabo to Maunabo, this region includes important place-based fishing communities as well as the somewhat distinctive association that has managed to remain in business and even capitalize on the vast coastal gentrification taking place at Humacao’s Palmas Del Mar. Southern Rural Region I: Guayama: Home to one of the most important place-based fishing communities in Puerto Rico, Pozuelo, this municipality-region is the heart of the islands’ trap fisheries. Southern Rural Region II: Guanica, Guaynilla, Peñuelas: Incipient tourism alongside productive fisheries have defined this region since Griffith, et al. (1988) studied it in the late 1980s. It is also the site of Ricardo Pérez’s 2000 dissertation and recent book (2005). Northern Metro: San Juan, Toa Baja, Cataño: This region includes the Villas Pesqueras of the capital, staying afloat among the cruise and commercial shipping of the busy port of San Juan. Southern Rural Region III: Salinas and Santa Isabel: This heavily rural region was once home to some of the most dominating sugar mills of Puerto Rico. Southern Rural Region IV: Arroyo and Patillas: Fishers in this region are primarily divers who neighbor regions where trap fishing is important; as such, they are involved in the age-old dispute between these two gear types. Northern Muncipalites I: Carolina, Loíza, Río Grande, Luquillo: Home to an African-Caribbean Heritage, the fishers of this region are involved in ongoing disputes with large coastal resorts over the health of its rich mangrove forests and wetlands. Northern Municipalities II: Isabela to Dorado: Most of the fishing communities and municipalities in this region rank low in terms of both landings and dependency scores. 143 Southwestern Region: Cabo Rojo and Lajas There is little doubt that Puerto Rico’s southwest coast has been and continues to be home to its most productive commercial fisheries, even in light of distinctive and elaborate developments in other municipalities, such as the increasing integration of commercial fishing and tourism in Ponce or Fajardo or efforts to professionalize fisheries in Rincón. Puerto Real, Cabo Rojo was the site of Valdés Pizzini’s doctoral dissertation (1985), which was among the first anthropological studies of fishing in Puerto Rico and which encouraged and set the stage for several other related works on Puerto Rico’s coastal communities (e.g. Valdés Pizzini, 1985, 1990; Valdés Pizzini, et al. 1988; Griffith, et al. 1988; Griffith and Valdés Pizzini 2002; Brusi 2004; Pérez 2005; García Quijano, forthcoming). Two other significant sites in Cabo Rojo, Boquerón and Combate, represent alternatives to the fishing styles of Puerto Real. In addition, La Parguera in Lajas has tranformed, in the words of one its residents, from a fishing village to the capitol of Lajas, emphasizing the importance of this small coastal city in the regional economy. Its casetas—or houses built illegally into the mangroves and out over the bay—have been a point of contention among fishers and DRNA personnel at least since the 1980s (Valdés Pizzini 1990), yet collectively constitute one of the region’s largest marinas and are occupied by professionals from as far away as San Juan. It has been the site of increasing gentrification, some of which has been spearheaded by long-term residents who have taken over public lands (Brusi 2003), and every weekend it attracts throngs of visitors from all over Puerto Rico. Finally, one of the largest of Puerto Rico’s MPAs extends from the southern coast of Lajas. 144 Map SW.1. Southwest Fishing Communities 145 Cabo Rojo Arguably the municipality in Puerto Rico most dependent on fishing, with the highest annual landings and the most productive fishers, Cabo Rojo has seven landing centers and at least as many significant sites where fishers congregate: four to five in Puerto Real, two in Boquerón, and one in Combate. The site of Valdés Pizzini’s doctoral dissertation (1985), Puerto Real has long been the home port of deep water grouper-snapper fishers who fish the Mona Passage, as well as divers, many of whom sell to private fish buyers rather than to fishing associations. Table SW.1. Cabo Rojo Demographic Information CABO ROJO 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Population Characteristics Population 1 29,546 24,868 26,060 34,045 38,521 46,911 2 Civilian Labor Force (CLF) 9,311 6,220 7,395 10,040 13,483 15,701 CLF - Employed 9,174 5,948 7,041