Social Vulnerability of the Fishing Community to Restrictive Public Policies: Case Study the Gulf of Ulloa, Mexico

Abstract

The social vulnerability approach (SV) establishes that social inequalities and disadvantages have developed beyond monetary poverty in the last few years, since the process is built at different scales. In its objectives, the SV multidimensional measurement is considered to be a priority tool in monitoring the compliance of the first goal: to eliminate poverty in all its forms. Therefore, the objective of this research is to calculate the SV of the fishing communities of the Gulf of Ulloa (GU), Mexico by macro-markers, to subsequently contrast them with field micro-data, and finally to perform a behavior scenario that takes into consideration the current public policies that restrict fishing in such areas. The results showed substantial differences depending on the type of information used (x20.05,8 = 41.53 > 15.51). A corrected contingency coefficient of 0.83 was obtained, indicating that the calculus depends strongly on the data and scale used, and suggesting that macro-data may be masking the true SV values in the area in such a way that they could be severely underestimated. Although the context of micro-scale is not the only one, SV should be calculated to analyze the fishing communities, as coastal fishery represents almost the total livelihood of the inhabitants. Nevertheless, these communities confront numerous local and global threats, and these pressures on SV put their livelihoods, well-being, food security and traditional lifestyles at risk. Therefore, the role of researching human dimensions and governance is not only basic, but also urgent in order to turn to sustainable socioeconomic management.