Vessel Dr. Carranza Fraser was built by the shipyard Astillero Armon, in Spain and reached Mazatlan port in February, 2014.

Inapesca promotes project for Central America’s fishery resource assessment

MEXICO
Tuesday, September 18, 2018, 22:20 (GMT + 9)

The National Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture (INAPESCA) has tasked the research vessel Doctor Jorge Carranza Fraser, considered one of the most modern in the world, to participate in a research project in which a survey and evaluation of fishing resources in Central America will be carried out.

The ship sailed on Monday from Puerto Progreso, Yucatán, with 22 scientists, 10 of them from Central America and 12 from Mexico.

This project, called "2018 Central American Survey", will be carried out in coordination with FAO and the participation of the countries of the region: Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala.

During the sailing ceremony, INAPESCA director Pablo Arenas said that the research generated during this survey, with the participation of scientists from Mexico and all the countries of Central America and FAO, will contribute to strengthen the bonds of friendship and South-South cooperation, but above all, will contribute to fisheries sustainability and the strengthening of technical and scientific capacities in the region in terms of fisheries research.

For his part, FAO representative in Mexico Crispim Moreira recalled that this mission of cooperation between Mexico and Central America is part of the Global Blue Growth Initiative, which seeks sustainable management of fisheries resources, combating illegal fishing and the promotion of fair and inclusive markets with social support.

Moreira stated that the studies carried out by the ship will set the tone to comply with objective 14 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and make a sustainable capture of marine and fisheries resources, on which many people depend.

He pointed out that 21.6 per cent of the Central American population depends on the coasts. "Fishing production contributes to the regional GDP with about USD 750 million annually and provides more than 200,000 direct jobs," said the FAO representative. "The coastal zones also provide support to more than 250,000 indigenous people living in them and they depend on their resources," he added.

During the 2018 Central American Survey, two 75-day fisheries and oceanographic research surveys will be carried out in a large part of the Special Economic Zones (EEZs) of the Central American countries, in the Caribbean and Atlantic Oceans (3,800 NM, 43 transects, 63 sampling stations) and in the Pacific Ocean (3,700 mn, 39 transects, 63 sampling stations), an area that has an area of ​​1.57 million square kilometres.

Fisheries research will be carried out from the isobath of 100 m -- and 300 m in some cases --, with systematic-stratified sampling, using state-of-the-art hydroacoustic equipment and bottom trawling, pelagic and shrimp razors, among others.

 

With the information obtained, potential fishery resources will be identified, in addition to the oceanographic characterization (physical, chemical and geological factors) and their relationship with the distribution and abundance of biodiversity and especially of fishery resources.

In addition to the fisheries studies, in collaboration with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Sargassum patches in the Caribbean Sea -- a problem of special importance for the environment and tourism in the Mexican Caribbean -- will be studied to determine their abundance and potential for arrival in Mexico.

Likewise, collections of fish, crustaceans, mollusks, diverse marine biota, plankton, water and sediments as well as continuous measurements of eggs and larvae of fish and oceanographic parametres (temperature, salinity and currents among others) and the environment, will be made as well as correlations with satellite images of temperature and primary productivity.

The research survey in the Pacific Ocean will take place from October 23 to November 21, and studies will be carried out in the waters of Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala, to arrive in Mazatlan, Mexico on November 27.

The resources for victualling, fuel and use of the vessel for the 2018 Central American Survey will be covered by INAPESCA, while the Central American countries, in coordination with FAO, will cover the transfer costs of their researchers.

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