THE PACIFIC SHRIMP FISHERY OF MEXICO

The Pacific shrimp fishery is the most important Mexican fishery in terms of foreign exchange and employment. This fishery comprises an offshore and a lagoon fishery, like other tropical shrimp fisheries of the world. The offshore fishery’ supports the largest fleet; the lagoon fishery supports the most fishermen. The lagoon fishery began in pre-Hispanic times, with native barriers called tupos. This fishery has become very important in coastal lagoons of the Pacific, and nowadays cast nets such as utarrayas and suriperus are also used. The catch has stabilized at around 4,000 to 6,000 metric tons (MT) in the last 25 years, with some fluctuations. The offshore fishery was developed in the 1930s with modified sardine boats. The fleet grew rapidly to 800 boats, and remained stable until 1971. From 1971 to 1981 it increased to 1,700 boats. This important increase in the fleet was made without any increase in the catch. The present catch level is 25,000 to 27,000 MT, with important stock fluctuations in the last 25 years. In the early 1960s and 1980s the catch reached similar maximum levels. During the late 1960s and 1970s the annual catch per boat decreased to a minimum from 40 to 15