HISTORICAL REVIEW OF THE BILLFISH MANAGEMENT IN THE MEXICAN PACIFIC

Off the Mexican Pacific coast, high catch rates are found for striped marlin, sailfish and swordfish, and to a lesser extent for blue marlin and black marlin, making this area an important fishing ground for co mmercial and sport-fishing fisheries. This paper focuses on the develo pment of the billfish fisheries and their management in the Pacific wa ters of Mexico. Three periods are described: (1) 1900-1959, (2) 1960-1 989 and (3) 1990 to the present. During the period of 1900 to 1959, sp ort fishing began to develop, resulting in important tourist resorts. A system of fishing permits for this incipient fishery went into force . Also during this period, Mexico established a territorial sea jurisd iction of 9 nautical miles. From 1960 to 1989, commercial fishing for billfish began in Mexico, with the arrival of the Japanese tuna longli ne fishery, where billfishes were taken as by-catch. Then, with the es tablishment of the 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), Me xico developed its own longline fishery at the beginning of 1980. Beca use of the fishing interactions between the sport and commercial fishe ries, efforts to manage both fisheries were undertaken. At the beginni ng of the third period (1990 to the present), the commercial fishing f or marlin and sailfish in Mexico was prohibited and only commercial fi shing for swordfish is allowed today. Recently, a plan for the develop ment of the sport fishery was published, and regulations on bag limits and fishing gear were established. Although billfish are highly migra tory species, Mexico asserted its right to manage this species unilate rally in its EEZ. The sport-fishing industry represents a high value i nput to its economy, but only operates within the first 50 nautical mi les of its EEZ. The lack of patrol, enforcement and presence of commer cial fishermen offshore has resulted in some illegal fishing activitie s by foreign fishing vessels.